European vegetable growers with crops destined for processing are facing the worst losses for 40 years after recent heavy rain and hail.

Growers across France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, the UK and Denmark are among the worst hit with many facing “severe crop losses”, according to European fruit and vegetable processing association Profel.

Pea and carrot crops have suffered the most damage, although several other vegetable crops have been affected after June saw record rainfall in several countries.

The sowing of green beans has been “dramatically delayed”, said Profel, with 80 per cent of the volume that should already be in the ground still waiting to be sown due to waterlogged ground preventing farm machinery from travelling, and the destruction of soil structure during harvest of early summer crops.

Growers and processors are unable to give any volume indications at this stage as the bad weather continues and field yields continue to decrease, Profel said.

But the body warned: “It’s clear that a significant part of the European peas and carrot crop has been totally lost” and the situation looks very grim.

Profel represents over 500 companies in 12 European countries.

The following data visualisation shows the market share of countries that export root vegetables (Source: OEC).

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