Vegetable and fruit harvest better than expected after concerns about wet spring

The harvests of vegetables, fruit, and other crops have gone reasonably well after an extremely wet spring. The damage to wheat and spinach, for example, could not be repaired, but potatoes and onions could still be bought more often at the supermarket and greengrocer than last year. The situation varies greatly per region and crop, according to a survey by the ANP.

"Fortunately, the wet winter and spring were followed by a very favorable summer. It warmed up very slowly and this ran parallel with the hours of sunshine, which meant that many crops were still well developed, later than normal," says the Association of the Dutch Fruit and Vegetable Processing Industry. "Ultimately, the processors look back on the summer with relief. Only a number of smaller crops that can really only be grown in the spring, had a poor yield. Red cabbage, for example."

In the spring there were also concerns about the potato harvest due to a water mold and the heavy rain, which caused potatoes to be planted too late. However, an initial estimate by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) shows that the yield is 7 percent higher than a year earlier, although that was also a wet and difficult year. Potatoes have already become more than 25 percent more expensive in the supermarket in the past two years.

For the red and yellow onion, it was a significantly better year. Farmers freed up almost 12 percent of extra land to sow onions. This was the main reason why the harvest was 15 percent higher. Here too, "the wet spring made sowing conditions challenging," writes CBS. The wheat harvest shrank by 37 percent and the amount of land used for wheat fell to its lowest level since 1957 due to the wet weather.

Pears also had a hard time, resulting in a 10 percent lower yield. Apple trees yielded 2 percent less, according to figures from trade associations NFO and GroentenFruit Huis.

Another example of a less performing crop is spinach, which according to the farmers' organization LTO has shrunk by 15 percent. GroentenFruit Huis adds that the same applies to asparagus, rhubarb, and certain types of cauliflower.