The sale of early carrots this year has been particularly difficult right from the start. According to traders, there is a lack of demand. Precisely now that the acreage was slightly larger and the weather was very growing. Growers are faced with a dilemma: to harvest, leave to stand or undercut?
In the coming weeks, the harvesting machines will go into the field to collect the carrots for storage. However, that does not mean that the early carrot has already disappeared from the scene. On the contrary, there is more on offer than many would like. By the limited demand traders have difficulty finding a destination for this. “The supply continues to increase,” agrees Joost Litjens of Bejo Zaden. "Anything left on the field only becomes coarser and heavier."
Beautiful growing season
When growers start harvesting early carrots, the yield is usually around 30 tons per hectare, Litjens indicates. "That same carrot, which should have been left early, could now produce so much yield." The circumstances are not good in that respect. Emergence problems were hardly an issue and the growing season is beautiful, according to Litjens. "There was always some rain. Even the areas where irrigation is not possible had enough moisture. Normally you always miss some yield due to a few weeks of drought, but it just keeps growing now."
There is also little and no disease in carrot cultivation this year. "The foliage is healthy," says Litjes. "You see this everywhere, in all growing areas. The growing conditions are also favorable in the countries around us. No disaster is a disaster, as it turns out once again," says Litjes, who is referring to the problems in sales. This coincides with a slight expansion in the area of early carrots. "It concerns the carrot that was sown in April and is normally delivered in August/September."
Carrot slightly shorter
Niek Vedelaar, arable farming advisor at Delphy, recognizes the current problems in the carrot market. Although, according to him, the cause is not so much a large supply. "In fact, I think the carrots are slightly shorter this year. We are missing some hours of sunshine, the temperature was moderate and a lot of precipitation fell. As a result, carrots did not have to search deep for moisture. In areas with a lot of precipitation, such as the Noordoostpolder, I wonder whether an average yield will be achieved. Perhaps that will be somewhat of a salvation this season when it comes to price formation."
According to Vedelaar, the current problem is mainly a sales issue. "The demand for carrots is simply very moderate. We are concerned, especially when it comes to organic carrots. Countries to which we traditionally export a lot are becoming increasingly self-sufficient. For conventional carrots it is more difficult to indicate where the bottlenecks are." Many growers currently choose to leave the carrots for longer. "It is only harvested if it has a destination. As long as the foliage looks good, the ground is the best place to store the carrot."
Want to store early carrots?
According to Litjens, some plots of early varieties have already been cleared and a single batch has been sent to fermentation due to quality problems. "There are also growers who are looking at whether it might be possible to store early carrots. The question is whether you should want to. Renting refrigeration is expensive, especially with current prices."
At the same time, Litjens notes: "It is and remains bad. The signs are not good, but we know from the past that the mood can also change just like that." He expects growers to go full steam ahead next week to collect the storage carrots from the land. "That carrot now has the best quality. When demand arises, growers want to be the first to have good quality carrots."