It was a worrying start to the month for citrus growers in California, when a cold front, followed by an Arctic front, brought temperatures down to 29 degrees at night with daytime highs in the upper 40s and low 50s. While in Chile the agricultural sector recorded a loss of 75,900 jobs from the previous quarter, from August to October, this was due to the negative impact of the frosts in the sector's labour.
In the EU shortages of Spanish vegetables were being reported, this was due to cold weather in mid November, in the main producing areas coupled with a good demand. There are also reports of a 50% reduction in lettuce production.
The full extent of the damage to South Africa's stonefruit after the recent hail storms and flooding was being realised with a reduced forecast issued by Hortgro, the biggest casualty was the apricot crop with 21% reduction. Spain had a difficult start to the citrus season, it was expected that 30% of the Navelina orange production would not be harvested due to low prices and small calibres.
Israel experienced an historic snowstorm mid December which caused millions of shekels of damages to agriculture. In Central and Southern Israel, several greenhouses also collapsed - affecting Israel's tomato and bell pepper crops the most. Carrot and potato crops were also affected by the hail, as were this year's expected strawberry, avocado, and citrus fruit harvests.
The European Union threatened a ban on imports of Thai fruit and vegetables after flies were found in guavas imported from Thailand.This was the third time within a year that Thailand failed to meet the EU’s quality standard requirements.
Nasa announced plans to grow plants and vegetables – such as turnip and basil – on the Moon, by 2015, to understand whether humans can live and work on the Earth’s natural satellite. Also this month UK company Sirane added 11 days additional in-store shelf-life to mushrooms using Sira-Flex™ Resolve® bags and films.
And of course the fruit and vegetable sector was getting ready for Christmas...
Freshgro launched two ready prepared roasting trays of fresh Chantenay carrots and parsnips, both featuring a delicious mustard and honey glaze, into Lidl. All the consumer needs to do is brush the veg with the glaze and pop in the oven.
One greengrocer filled a mini with Brussels sprouts just to see how many it took...the answer.... 38,182.
Chocolate shop owner and professional magician, Andrew Simpson, now has queues of curious customers lining up outside his shop to sample the new delicacy Truffle. Following the success of his chocolate sprouts, which he introduced two years ago, this year he has perfected the Truffle Sprout.