English growers have been warned that spinach seed, provided mainly from Denmark, will be in shorter supply for next year's crop.
That message was sounded by plant breeder Jan de Visser of Pop Vriend Seeds BV, a major supplier, during Tozer Seeds’ two day open day held at Cobham, Surrey last week.
De Visser said that the cold wet summer had meant that flowering had been poor and expects there to be a shortfall of around 20 percent compared with a normal season. "We are not making screwdrivers," he said.
Major UK growers such as Langmead Farms have already indicated their requirements two months earlier than usual, confirmed Kylie Borchardt, the firm’s baby leaf agronomist.
It comes at a time when a switch in production is also taking place in the bagged salad sector, where there is a move from the traditional pale smooth leafed varieties to crinkly savoy types which are often darker, is easier to wash and provide a better bag fill making the product look more attractive, said technologist Alan Lockwood.
There was also evidence at the trials - which attracted over 700 growers and plant technologists - that there continues to be a move towards ‘growing for purpose', as well as finding varieties which have greater disease resistant yield over a longer season.
One of the most popular attractions were the 34 varieties of red, white and pink flowered runner beans, with a further seven under trial. Tozer's technologist David Leeson believes that what is regarded as a very traditional English vegetable is on the increase on supermarket shelves, after a period of falling popularity.
"This season has produced the best trial ever," he said, "and we are the only English seed breeder. While finding the right combination of pod length, skin finish, colour and width remains a key consideration. The aim is also to provide runners which because of the reports of climate change will be able to set during hot summers.”
Additionally, white flowering varieties which have white seeds have been found to be suitable for fresh cut packs, and are already the choice of Marks and Spencer.
There is even a continuing move to another traditional line, the parsnip, where packers are look for smaller root size which is not susceptible to bruising when pre-packers machine harvest up to 400 tonnes a day.
Tozers was the first to breed a hybrid strain called Gladiator, and its successor Javelin now accounts for 85 percent of UK production, revealed Brian Lincoln.
The year however has not been without its setbacks, added technologist Jim Juby. "Growing conditions even for the trails day have been difficult," he says.
Conditions have also had an effect on the new strains of butternut squash that Tozers released last year, which allowed production in the cooler temperatures in the north of the country.
"We had a tremendous response and the acreage has increased enormously, but the variety has not performed as well simply because of low night time temperatures during June and July,"
Juby said that if there is an Indian summer the position may still be reversed, but for the last two months has been visiting customers to assure them of the potential.
"Most growers realise despite their best efforts it was simply the result of freak conditions," he added.
