•
NEWS
•
THE
VEGETABLE
FARMER •
MARCH 2017
Severe weather in parts of
continental Europe could be
responsible for a hike in the
prices of fresh vegetable supplies
to the UK and Ireland. Floods
across Spain’s Murcia region and
coldweather in Italy almost
wiped out crops of lettuce and
broccoli. Due to the better
growing conditions across the
Mediterranean fromOctober
onwards, salad leaves are widely
sourced there for the UK and
Irishmarkets.
One Northern Ireland salad
processor says he could lose up
to a £1m in turnover due to the
low availability of supply. John
McCann, managing director of
Willowbrook Foods, spent a week
inMurcia to inspect the damage
to his firm’s rawmaterial
supplies.
Murcia in south east Spain
produces around 80 percent of
the saladmixes eaten in northern
Europe. John said: “The soil and
climate inMurcia is normally
ideal for growing all crops in the
winter months, but is especially
suited to lettuce production. Yet
for the past twomonths, the
region has had catastrophic
natural extremes of climate to
deal with, resulting in severe
shortages and farmers facing 80
percent irreparable crop damage.
“I have witnessed first-hand the
devastation of these floods,
which have washed away planted
crops and turned fields into
lakes. Mud has washed over
fields with crop, and those fields
due to be planted, have become
rivers of mud. We have had up to
70 percent shortages, a disaster
for our customers who could not
understandwhy,” he said.
Looking to the future,
assuming the weather does
improve as the spring arrives, the
problems won’t go away.
“A certain fact is that with
three to four weeks of no
planting at the end of December
and January, there will be no
crops maturing inMarch. This
will see a possible total stoppage.
Maybe warmweather and
growth can compensate a little,
but the growers and lettuce users
are facing a period of no crops.
This has never happened before.”
McCann alluded to a ‘disaster’
situation brewing in the future
due to growers being unable to
plant for almost four weeks
whichwould push supply back
another twomonths.
4
Spanish floods couldpushupUKand Irish vegprices
Precision farming project demonstrates savings
Elsoms introduce firstmalehybridpurpleasparagus
AHDB Horticulture’s precision
farming project CP107c is
demonstrating savings for those
growers adopting and investing
in newmachinery for Controlled
Traffic Farming (CTF) and is
engagingwith growers to
discuss best practice CTF and
other precision technologies.
Barfoots, whomoved over to
CTF more than five years ago,
introduced their site in
Titchfield, Hampshire in 2016.
ADAS soil scientist Paul
Newell Price commented, “It’s
particularly useful to have a trial
at a site that is just at the point
of being converted to control
traffic farming as we have been
able to analyse the soil
conditions beforehand andwill
track changes over the next five
years.”
James Rome, Barfoots farm
manager explained; “at
Chichester we’re already seeing
benefits, for example in the
deeper rooting of our phacelia
cover crops, which in turn
further aids water infiltration
into the soil. We’re now
working to reduce cultivation
depths.”
Consultant agricultural
engineer, Tim Chamen, who has
spent 25 years working on
tillage tools and effects of soil
compaction at Silsoe Research
Institute, told growers at the
recent GREATsoils workshop in
Hampshire, “We do a lot of
damage to soil by driving on it.
In conventional vegetable
farming, around 85% of the
field surface is going to be
driven over at least once.
Controlled traffic farming
simply takes the tramline
principle a stage further. All the
traffic on a field is confined to
permanent lanes resulting in
85% reduction in area driven
over.”
Potential benefits to growers
from soil improvement include:
A fourfold increase inwater
infiltration; 40% less erosion;
better aeration; higher
earthworm counts; and
improved retention of organic
matter.
Successful implementation of
CTF depends on ensuring the
whole workforce understands it,
“Just one person driving a
shortcut over a field ruins
everything” added Tim.
Elsoms has introduced
Erasmus, a new asparagus
variety developed by Bejo Zaden,
which they believe has the
potential to transform the
economics of purple asparagus
growingwithin the UK.
According to Elsoms, as the
world’s first 100%male hybrid
purple asparagus, Erasmus,
delivers excellent quality spears
at yields two to three times
those of alternative purple
breeds, offering comparable
performance to leading green
varieties.
Rich in antioxidants and low in
lignin, tender purple asparagus
has considerable consumer
appeal but has historically been
associatedwith low yields and
demanding fernmanagement.
Well suited to the UK climate,
Erasmus offers enhanced
performance in both areas.
“Erasmus was first planted in
the UK in 2012 at Hargreaves
Plants Ltd, a globally renowned
asparagus testing facility,” says
Marie-Laure Bayard, Asparagus
Specialist at Elsoms. “We now
have full maturity, statistically-
relevant data (5 times replicate)
that confirms that its yield
exceeds our expectations.
“Not only does Erasmus
outperform all other purple
varieties, it offers yields
that are similar to those of
leading green varieties.
Furthermore, it appears to
have slightly improved
standing ability, though
fern support is still
necessary.
The spears produced are
of excellent quality - dark
purple, straight, andwith
good tip closure. Its
introduction is therefore
extremely valuable to UK
growers who have seenmargins
squeezed over recent years by
unseasonal cold springweather
and rises in the livingwage,”
says Marie-Laure.
The new variety is now
available in seed form and
demand is expected to be in
high.
Erasmus, theworld’s first 100%male hybrid
purple asparagus produces excellent quality
spears at higher yields than alternative
purple breeds, say Elsoms.
JohnMcCann, Managing Director of
Willowbrook Foods.
James Rome, Barfoots FarmManager.
