Ireland has seen one of the wettest periods in recent history, with record rainfall every month since the beginning of the year. 47mm has already fallen this month, and the monthly average for April is 50mm. Growers should be planting by now, but the rain keeps falling, and the fields are waterlogged.
"We are hoping to get some planting done in the next few days," said Stephen McCormack from McCormack Family Farms, based in County Meath. "We are around a month behind schedule, but that said, last year was also wet, and we didn't start planting till April 17."
Stephen is hoping that it stays dry for the few days as the plants are ready, and he will have half a million lettuce, Pakchoi, and herb plants arriving this week, already a week behind schedule, "Our propagator can't hold onto them any longer, the same again the following week and they need to be in the ground quickly. We are looking at plowing the lay ground in the hope that it is drier than other fields that were planned for the early crops.
"The ground is in bad condition after all the rain, and it makes it more challenging and costly to plant. There is the danger that we won't get yields we are expecting or even worse that the quality will be down. We are keen to get going but we must be very careful and make the right decisions, a wrong decision for the sake of just getting crop in the fields could end up a very costly mistake."
On a positive note, McCormack imports through the winter to supply their customers and demand has especially strong this year.
"In the next few weeks, the Spanish and Italian seasons will end, and the gap to our season will be much longer than normal, which will see prices for imported produce hit the roof. Or not be available at all, as the UK and northern Europe are also behind.
For more information:
Stephen McCormack
McCormack Family Farms
Tel.: +353 46 902 56 95
Email: stephen@mccormackfarms.ie
www.mccormackfarms.ie