Carrot growers are hoping that the recent spell of cold weather will revive a market for root vegetables which has struggled during a relatively mild autumn and Christmas period.
Martin Evans of Nottinghamshire-based FreshGro told reporters, “Carrots have grown well after the warm summer but demand has just not been there so far. Usually in January when the weather is cold people tend to go into winter mode and sit down to warm dinners. Prices are mediocre but do vary in certain areas depending on supply. The situation is bad but not as bad as it is for potatoes.”
The company has recently introduced colour varieties to its Chantenay range, but despite this type of innovation Martin worries that slack demand means that the new crop in June could coincide with supplies of old crop, a situation which also occurred last summer. This could depress new crop prices and potentially reduce the sown acreage of summer crops.