Scottish soft-fruit growers are dealing with the fallout of high winds that swept the country last month as they approach what should be the peak of their season.
NFU Scotland soft-fruit committee chair Peter Thomson said the season is running late and cost increases have hit growers.
He said: “Growers have put a tremendous effort in and repaired damaged tunnels on strawberries. But because fruit has been uncovered for a couple of weeks that has made the season later.”
NFUS estimates that fruit is coming on stream about seven to 10 days later than expected as a result of high winds on 23 May and that many are still waiting to see if they have more damaged fruit as picking accelerates. “A lot of the plants looked like they were damaged but we will only know if the fruit has been affected once we are picking,” said Thomson.
Most of the damage was caused to tunnels themselves and this is what is proving costly to producers. “There is a lot of extra cost in replacing the tunnels,” said Thomson, who estimates only 10 per cent of fruit at most has been lost. Some of the largest growers are spending thousands of pounds on extra labour, let alone materials to repair their tunnels.
Supermarket buyers have been visiting production sites to understand the situation.
“We can expect sympathy from the supermarkets, but this is not translated into anything physical to help us,” said Thomson.
Scottish growers along the east coast had hoped to reach peak production in time for Wimbledon, which starts next week, but with cooler temperatures and lower light levels, the peak is unlikely to come before July.
