Unseasonably warm temperatures this year have caused significant problems with the production of UK forced rhubarb, according to the UK’s leading growers.
The lack of cold weather has seen forced rhubarb - which is produced in the Wakefield triangle - get off to a sluggish start.
Janet Oldroyd-Hulme of E Oldroyd & Sons Ltd said the problems began with the scorching summer this year, which affected the roots. This, combined with a lack of frost in autumn and early winter, which is needed to convert the roots’ energy stores to glucose for growing in sheds without light, has dramatically affected volumes. “Yields are down incredibly,” she said. “Summer was too hot for it so it’s not built up the energy store that we would expect. Rhubarb is native to Siberia so it likes the cold and the frost is important to release the energy store in the plant. We are looking at 30-50 per cent loss in yield.”
David Westwood from Thorpe Lane Farm said: “There was not enough cold units for the early varieties so the first crop was very light, but the later ones are just starting to get better now.
“I think we will be light all the way through the season but not as light as we were at the beginning. We shall be lucky if supply can fill demand but we will keep trying. Prices are good and with a bit of luck they will hold.”
The shortage has been exacerbated by a decline in Dutch exports, as one of the country’s largest forced rhubarb producers has switched to soft-fruit production.
Oldroyd attributes the problems to the long-term effects of global warming. According to her records, the amount of frost experienced in the UK over the last 10 years has been in decline. “Last year there was a big dip in the amount of cold and this is the worst year we can ever remember for having a mild autumn and winter,” she said. “We are hoping this cold weather will continue, but it’s come too late for the industry really. We should have been having this weather a month ago.”
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