Alternatives
The season actually started badly because it was cold for a long time, which meant the tomatoes were delayed by two weeks. Due to the persistent heat, however, the harvest is now becoming a bit too big. "There is a limit to what supermarkets can and will buy," says Jakobsen. He is therefore looking at alternative sales possibilities. Part of the harvest will be used for ketchup. "Normally we use the lesser tomatoes for this, but now that we can't sell the best tomatoes anywhere else, we send them to the ketchup factory."
Tomatoes are not the only produce in abundance in Denmark. The conditions for apples, cucumbers and lettuce are also optimal. "In general a lot of light and heat is positive. This get the fruit setting going and the chance of a large harvest is high. It seems there will be a lot of fruit and vegetables in the autumn," says Anne Fabricius, consultant for Dansk Gartneri. "But it could all go too fast. The plants could be exhausted in the spring."
Jakobsen also foresees problems later in the season. This is why it's important to profit from the optimal conditions as much as possible right now.
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