The drought last summer made growing conditions very tough for farmers across the UK. These extremely dry conditions lasted right up until mid-October, then the situation changed dramatically for Rodger Hobson, carrot grower and Chairman of the British Carrot Association.
"After the drought, we then saw four months' worth of rainfall in just two months. We had fields that were so waterlogged we couldn't get in to harvest. The situation did improve over Christmas, and we were able to harvest."
In the last week, there has been widespread snow in places, resulting in the fields again being too wet to harvest. There have also been areas where temperatures have dipped as low as -7 or -10.
"The carrots, which were covered in straw, which are the majority, should be in good shape, but those without will not be. We had thought that supply would be tight in the new year, but the rain and the mostly mild weather mean that we won't be desperately short, but we will not have any over-supply either."
Rodger said that yields are very up and down, depending on whether they had water or not; overall, they will be somewhere near average. This seems to be the case country-wide.
"The UK carrot crop won't be far from going right through to the new season. The retailers will source carrots from Scotland until April/May, and the new English crop will be ready in June. In a good year, we are 97-98% self-sufficient for carrots."
Planting of the new crop started before Christmas in Norfolk; in Yorkshire, it will start in February, when they will hopefully get some dry weather.
For more information:
Rodger Hobson
British Carrot Grower's Association
[email protected]
