The weather was not very good in Emilia-Romagna and, because of early harvests and delayed sowing, there is a lack of green beans on the market, driving prices up. It is the exact opposite of what happened in June, when yields were high and prices were low. Of course we are talking about machine-harvested produce.
Liuba Tumedei from Orogel Fresco confirms the lack of produce is due to the fact that harvesting was early. "In addition, June sowing was late due to threshing delays, so we won't have produce for a while."
In June, yields doubled the usual volumes - from 8/10 tons per hectare to 16!
Giampiero Valdinoci from Futuragri reports the same situation. "Prices are finally going up after being low due to the abundant volumes on the market. In addition, the hot temperatures are affecting the produce growing now, so the situation will remain like this for a while."
As regards green beans harvested by hand in Verona, Daniele Conti reports that "the first spring cycle was in greenhouses. It was transplanted in March and harvested in May. We obtained excellent prices, as much as €3/kg. I don't usually do anything in summer, then I sow in September and harvest after 60 days."
Conti sells his produce to wholesale markets in the north and is satisfied with how the season went. Commenting on the low prices in June, he says that often retailers import a lot of produce from North Africa, penalising the domestic productions.
Author: Cristiano Riciputi
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