UK: Business as usual despite drought

With parts of the UK already declared to be in drought, fears are that as the spring progresses into summer these conditions will worsen and the price of potatoes and vegetables will spiral in the country.

Two of the UK's important growing areas, East Anglia and south east England are officially in drought, while parts of central England, south west England and south east Yorkshire continue to be affected by dry weather. This is the latest from the Environment Agency.

But the vegetable growers themselves are not panicking yet. At the moment there are no supply problems from Lincolnshire growers regarding brassica crops. According to a statement from the Brassica Grower's Association, it's business as usual and Lincolnshire growers are busy planting at the moment and while the soil is drier than usual the first crops should not be hindered.

If there is another dry spring this year, there may be concerns for the second plantings of the year which take place through June and July, but buyers often spread their orders across the different regions in order to ensure constant and consistent supply.

John Constable, crop manager at Elsoms Seeds, one of the UK's leading brassica seed suppliers, says, “We have seen a nice jump in brassica orders in the last 7-10 days as growers are finalizing their areas for 2012 cropping – over 30% increase on the week in some crops. There seems to be the usual geographical spread of business as producers ensure they prepare for the eventualities our climate always provides.

"The diversity of soil types and climate that the UK offers makes its producers uniquely placed to provide quality fresh vegetables throughout the coming year."

As for potato crops which need a fair amount of water, Mike Storey, Head of Research at the Potato Council says that they have known about the drought situation through the winter, "Only certain parts of the UK are affected by the drought, some businesses will certainly be affected due to low reservoirs and river levels, but everything is being done to ensure demand is met domestically."

He goes on to say that in recent years a lot of investment has taken place in irrigation systems to ensure that water is applied effectively.

It is still very early days to be predicting shortages as growers have just started planting and the planting figures will not be know until mid June. Mike is optimistic about the future as the potato industry is very resilient and should be able to cope with climate changes.