Unseasonably mild weather in southern Spain is playing havoc with salad and vegetable availability.

Unusually high temperatures for the time of year as well as humid conditions caused temperatures of up to 14°C in the centre of individual heads of lettuce as growers struggled to remove field heat last week.

The result was supplies of iceberg tightened and prices in the UK rose to 1200p for 10s.

As FPJ went to press, prices were coming down rapidly as growers acted to extract field heat - a procedure not usually necessary at this time of year.

The warm weather and humid conditions also extended as far north as Valencia in the east of the country where temperatures rose to 19°C this week.

Tomato and cucumber production has also been affected. “The tomato job was all over the place at the start of the week,” said Peter Davis of Davis (Louth) Ltd.

“We are bringing in cucumbers from Morocco and courgettes have gone very short too. The situation should turn round in the next week or so, but the problem is that the weather brought product on all at once and now there is a dearth.”

Cauliflowers, which have been experiencing a shortfall of UK production, have suffered in Spain from snail infestation.

The warm damp conditions brought on the pest, which is not usually problematic in January as the weather is cooler.

This year, for the first time, Spanish growers do not have an effective pesticide they can use under EurepGAP protocols.

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