The British Sprout Growers’ Association is forecasting a
15-20 per cent crop reduction in Brussels sprouts this season, largely due to the flooding and inclement weather in Lincolnshire over the summer.
Roger Welberry, president of the association, said: “I don’t think there is a field without a wet spot because of the flooding.” The cooler temperatures in August also put the season back and Welberry reports that because of the rain, nitrates have been lost from the soil, which have had to be replaced at extra cost. Yields are expected to be down, but product quality is good, despite the strong presence of aphid this year.
“We are down on acreage and yield so we really can’t let the crop go cheap,” he added.
The market trade is performing strongly, but the association fears “the same old story” from the multiples. “The product is making good money on the wholesale markets, all brassica products are of good quality, but the multiples have not been putting their prices up accordingly,” Welberry said.
Added problems this season are the rising cost of packaging and haulage, both linked to the climbing price of oil. And Welberry warns that if prices paid to growers do not reflect the difficulty in getting their crop to market, then many are likely to leave the sector. “Some are thinking that with wheat prices at £175 a tonne, why are we messing about with greens? And there is a lot of drilling going on in Lincolnshire for cereals. When you rely on renting land, and those rents are going up because of the wheat price, then it is really putting pressure on.”
But there was a glimmer of hope from at least one of the multiples this week. “We are paying 20 per cent more for sprouts than this time last year,” a spokesman for Asda told FPJ. “That is 16p a bag more, and that is reflecting the market. We are certainly not taking advantage of growers.”
Welberry welcomed the news. “We will definitely be down in tonnage about 20 per cent, so a 20 per cent rise in prices to growers is about right,” he said.
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