UK Brussels sprouts are kicking off early this year and building on surprise strong demand for the product over the summer.
Summer sales at some stores have been more than 50 per cent up on last year - albeit from a low base - and some growers in Lincolnshire have already begun harvesting, picking first sprouts at the end of July. “We have tried getting them to start earlier and this season we were three days earlier than last year in the last week of July,’ said Pieter van Egmond of grower TH Clements. “It is a combination of planting time, variety and our production methods.”
But most other growers will not really begin the season in earnest until next month, reported Roger Welberry, chairman of the British Sprout Growers Association, who himself farms in north Lincolnshire. “The crops are looking well and the demand is there,” he said.
“But this year, overall acreage is down. You have to remember it is an expensive crop to grow, requiring some £1,000 in inputs per acre. It is the same picture in the Netherlands this season, I think, as prices have been static in recent years. “We have been getting good tonnages but prices have not been that good and we really need an extra penny or two a lb to make the job pay going forward.”
Demand over the summer has been stimulated by celebrity chefs and recipe ideas including shredding sprouts on a salad or stir-frying them. Produce has been imported from Australia, South Africa and even the US. The summertime trend has surprised the industry and it is now looking at the options open to it to extend the season further through variety research and development. “If consumers want sprouts in the summer time it is up to us to try and extend the season as far as we can,” said Welberry.
Scottish growers can supply later in the spring than their English counterparts due to cooler weather, and Welberry suggests it might be possible to develop later and earlier types. “But you have to be careful as when it gets too late in the season and too warm, sprouts can run to seed,” the chairman warned. l
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