The weather is depressing us all a little at the moment but above all it is complicating the work of our farmers and market gardeners. Philippe Marande, the president of the group of fruit and vegetable producers in Côte-d’Or, explains to us the influence of weather on crops.
Philippe Marande is a market gardener on a 15-hectare farm in Messigny-et-Vantoux in Côte-d’Or also President of the group of fruit and vegetable producers in the department and for him “We need the rain but right now, what’s wrong is the distribution of the water. Sometimes there’s too much rain and sometimes not enough and that’s the problem.”. Professionals have their eyes on field crops at the moment because they are already preparing for winter with carrots and beets in particular and excess water risks leading to a drop in production. Vegetables can also rot or be nibbled by snails and slugs.
A 70% shortfall in the asparagus harvest
At the beginning of spring, it is also outdoor asparagus seasonPhilippe Marande explains the vegetable is extremely fragilesnails love what does not suit producers. “Already this year, asparagus production is not huge; we are missing about 70% of the harvest, which is huge. We already know that the season will be much shorter this year.” concludes Philippe Marande.
Same story for fruit trees explains the market gardener from Côte-d’Or: “with this rain, insects come out much less, pollination does not take place correctly and we will inevitably have less fruit this summer“.
Under the greenhouses, we’re not doing too badly
The only crops that are more or less able to do well are greenhouse crops like salads, radishes, turnips and for about two weeks strawberries. “You always have to be positive” smiles Philippe Marande.
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