Farmers have warned of an impending shortage of broccoli, cauliflower and other brassica vegetables grown across the UK and Europe this spring, owing to weather-related challenges that the Met Office warns will become more frequent thanks to climate change.
The recent mild autumn and winter conditions have led to an early spurt of crops, which will likely prolong the period known as the 'hungry gap' between April and early June when few crops that grow in the UK are ready for consumption.
Heavy rainfall, which can damage crops, has also played a part and is expected to be seen more regularly, too. Furthermore, the conditions have been ripe for slugs, which thrive in wet weather, and birds, both of which have been devouring crops.
While the hungry gap is often supplemented with vegetables from Europe, flooding in major agricultural areas has prevented many arable farmers from planting seeds in time for the spring harvest.
Consumers can turn to other brassica vegetables such as spring greens (a type of cabbage) to help fill the void, and the need to be more versatile may become essential as, according to the Met Office, “Observations show a clear warming trend for average UK winter temperature, and this trend is projected to continue in the future due to human-induced climate change.”
Hannah Croft, Agronomist at Riverford, the organic vegetable box delivery company, told The Guardian that there would be “tight periods for broccoli supply later this spring” while “UK cauliflowers have faced weather challenges including significant rainfall in autumn, which caused some losses in early crops, while mild temperatures brought winter cauliflowers ahead of schedule.”
She continued: “Our Spanish suppliers, who grow much of our winter broccoli, have faced setbacks due to heavy autumn rain, which caused quality issues and delayed planting for spring crops. This has pushed harvest schedules forward, meaning there’s a possibility of a gap in late spring.”
Guy Barter, the Chief Horticulturist at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) was shocked to find cauliflowers on his Surrey allotment ready to harvest. He told The Guardian: “I think what happened here is that the plants went in at the usual time but grew mightily in the wet July and September and the very mild autumn, so their natural mechanism of timing flowering by chilling was overridden by their larger-than-usual size, hence flowering now rather than April.”
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