As 2024 is fast on track to be the warmest year on record on earth, a warmer than usual autumn in Sweden has allowed mainly greenhouse vegetable growers to extend the season a bit longer. Peter Horvath, from Svenska Odlarlaget, one of the largest producer organizations in the country, says "Fluctuating weather caused quite a roller coaster in production. The warmest period was actually in the beginning of September and that is very unusual as September should be a colder autumn month."
The warmer autumn follows after a colder spring earlier this year in Sweden with nearly no days of the much-needed sunshine for the vegetables to grow as needed. Horvath says as a result of the changing climate they have less volumes this year. "We had less produce this year. The warm autumn gave us a bit higher production at the end of the season, but it made no bigger impact on the total volume. During some weeks we had extra volume, but with low yield."
The open field production in Spain saw many wet fields, with tractors unable to access the land. Planting was also delayed as a result. The better summer weather led to some recovery for Swedish growers.
He says while outdoor production was "quite ok" the lower yield was offset with higher prices. "Cucumbers had higher prices, which helped most of the producers, even if new resistant varieties seems to give a lower yield. The level of insect infestation and diseases was high this summer. For tomatoes, the price and volume ratio was too low. Many growers had negative revenues, as a result most growers will switch to high yield varieties. Outdoor production was quite ok. Pears was fine I guess, both regarding volumes and prices. For apples there was big production with average to lower prices."
Citrus supply from Spain a concern
Horvath notes that Sweden imports a fair amount of produce from Spain. The impact of the floods in Spain two weeks ago and the available supply of citrus is a concern. "The problems in Spain will manly affect the citrus I think and give the Spanish farmers a bit higher prices on vegetables overall."
For more information:
Peter Horvath
Svenska Odlarlaget
Tel.: +46 042 499 01 12
Email: [email protected]
www.odlarlaget.se