This has been the toughest quarter the salad category has experienced in a long time, and that is really saying something after a year of drought, flooding and cold weather. Many growers and suppliers waited in vain for an uptake in demand over the Christmas period that just did not happen, and now insiders are describing the quarter as a bit of a damp squib.

“It has been a big disappointment, as you can always predict that salads are going to be popular over the New Year period, but it has not happened,” says one supplier. “But, on the whole, it has been a steady quarter for us; you do not expect winter salad sales to be the same as summer sales.”

According to insiders, UK salad production has been tight since November due to poor weather conditions.

Disappointing sales and bad weather at the end of the summer slowed down production in the autumn, and this continued into the winter period. In the same month, heavy rain in Spain disrupted salads there and exports to the UK, and caused availability problems at a time when demand was strong. “It was a hand-to-mouth situation,” says one insider. “Sales were really strong and production did not match demand.”

This winter’s warm nights and abnormal light levels have not provided the best conditions for UK lettuce growers.

“We need frosty nights and clear days for salad production at this time of year, and seeing as we have not had that, there has been little growth,” says one grower. “Winter lettuce varieties need traditional UK winter days to thrive.”

But according to growers, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon in the form of the curly lettuce variety Gatwick, which produced good yields this winter from under glass.

Meanwhile, suppliers have been facing further availability issues with imported salad products due to the southern Mediterranean season’s late start. According to insiders, produce was generally a month late from Spain, making good-quality tomatoes tough to source and cucumbers hard to find. “At the beginning of the salad season, the weather conditions in Spain were not conducive to tomato growing,” says a supplier. “The fruits were on the vine and were a large size, but they were not ripening and were still green.”

And now suppliers must brace themselves for difficulties that the worst frost in Israel for 10 years will bring. Up until last week, importers were shouting about the good quality and availability coming out of the country, but then temperatures in Israel dropped as low as -7oC, and Israeli growers urged their government to declare a national state of emergency.

Many Israeli salad crops have been affected as a result of the low temperatures, and salad imports to the UK could be affected for the next few weeks. “The produce has been very good from Israel and it has been a great start to the season, especially for peppers,” says one supplier. “But of course that will all change now. One of my growers has told me that the situation looks pretty dire.”

Some growers have found the shortage of produce unbearable this quarter, and the cost of imported salad products a strain. “We had to import produce from Spain and the Netherlands at a loss to make up our contracts this quarter,” says one lettuce grower. “At best, we break even with the selling price when we import, so a bad British season can be disastrous. We would not import produce at all if we could help it, but the fresh produce industry isn’t like that.”

And, with the euro strengthening against the pound, it looks like this situation is not about to get any better. “The exchange rate is the main issue at the moment, and will affect not only the salad industry, but the fresh produce industry as a whole,” says one supplier. “No-one is self-sufficient in the fresh produce industry, and we are going to see either a price increase or loss of businesses this year.

“Retail is getting tough and the exchange rate is difficult, and we are stuck in the middle of a winter salad period. There has been such a change in our normally stable pound; it is definitely going to be an interesting 2008.”

The salad industry also fears that production and distribution costs in Spain will escalate during 2008.

“It is becoming increasingly difficult for us to import Spanish produce,” explains one supplier. “Twenty per cent of the cost involved is taken up by transport and packaging, and it is the most difficult it has ever been to maintain profitability. Companies will have to make sure costs are cut and that their businesses are run efficiently, without passing on extra costs to the customer.”

The salad industry also predicts that consumers are going to be cutting down on fashionable and luxury lines, such as rocket, baby leaf lettuce and baby tomatoes, next quarter.

“Consumers are cutting down on spending and are not going out as much,” says a grower. “I think everyone is going to feel the pinch this year, as consumers become more price conscious. There will definitely be a downturn in the restaurant business, and people are not going to go out as much or spend as much on food. That is why we have to keep our prices for salad products constant.”

Most insiders are hoping that spring will bring sunshine and good salad-growing weather, along with a more optimistic outlook for the industry. “Our business is totally weather dominated, and everything relies on this summer’s performance,” says a grower.

“Last year killed the salad industry, and anyone who just grew salad products was in real difficulties. Those growers won’t survive another year like that,” he adds.

BARTLE TAKES CHAIR AT TGA

Last year was a real milestone for the British Tomato Growers’ Association (TGA) as it celebrated its 10th anniversary, says Nigel Bartle, chairman of the TGA and nursery manager at Cornerways Nursery.

As the new chairman, I hope the TGA can build on what it has been doing over the past 10 years, which will mean, once again, shouting about the benefits of British tomatoes. We want to promote the fact that people should buy British tomatoes, not just because they are British, but because they are better than any other alternative.

The British tomato is an iconic product, and is often scrutinised by the media for the wrong reasons. I plan to let our members know more about the work done behind the scenes at the association. We have a phenomenal technical committee that carries out some really important work, and often what they achieve is not fully understood.

To become chairman of the TGA is a real honour. The industry has some great characters, and the TGA has seen some influential chairs. I just hope that I can live up to the expectation.

Energy use has concerned tomato growers this year and has always been an issue, but the main topic of discussion at the moment is our carbon footprint. The difficulty is that actually analysing a carbon measurement is pretty complex, yet there seems to be a movement towards doing it simply. Consumers are widely misinformed on the subject, which is a shame as the whole industry has a great story to tell.

Obviously, the weather has had a major impact on tomato growers this year, from affecting how the crops grow to demand in the marketplace. Last year was a little more extreme than usual, with some growers suffering flooded greenhouses; it is out of our control, but a little more sun would be useful this year.

UK growers have been phenomenally inventive over the years. To realise this you only have to compare the tomato selection now to that of 10 years ago. As we all seem to connect more with food, there continues to be a great desire for different shapes, sizes and colours of product, but the overriding factor, of course, is flavour. British tomato growers know their produce tastes great; however, British tomatoes only represent about 20 per cent of the market. I hope the major trend of 2008 will be a greater consumer awareness of the fact that British tomatoes taste better.

This time last year at Cornerways, we were in the middle of expanding the site at Downham Market, Norfolk, and life was more about building sites than growing tomatoes. We did get a crop from our new greenhouse, albeit a short one. The past couple of months have therefore seen us turn round and replant the new larger site. The nursery is now free of builders and the crop is looking superb; we are looking forward to the first pick in the coming weeks.

The British industry is gearing up for the 2008 season, which we always hope will be better than the last one. The first fruit will appear soon; we then have British Tomato Week in May and the TGA will be representing growers at events throughout summer, from the BBC Good Food Show to county shows, from farmers’ markets to retail stores. Elsewhere, there is interest in developments such as Thanet Earth, so we hope we will be welcoming some new growers to the TGA, to together deliver more great-tasting British tomatoes.

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