It is wet. That is not news, but it remains the talk of the day in the carrot growing and arable farming Netherlands. On a sparsely dry day like today (Friday, November 17), it is all hands on deck.
The large amounts of rain that fell last month literally and figuratively left deep marks in the country. The harvest is downright difficult and having a few tractors on hand is in most cases not an unnecessary luxury. It is a dilemma for growers. Do we press on and start harvesting anyway, with all the structural damage that entails, or do we wait for a drier period with the risk that frost will immediately set in?
Custody
Harvesting under conditions that are too wet is also not without consequences for the quality of the carrot. "Every now and then you see loads passing by that contain more soil than carrots in a box," said a trader. "If it gets really crazy, we'll stop again." There is a risk for growers with their own storage. A rinser or other buyer who puts the carrot in his own storage is slightly more critical than an average farmer. Especially now that there are few carrots safely stored indoors, the market looks promising during the storage season. The temptation as growers is to push ahead with the harvest, but smeared and soaking wet carrots cannot be stored. If all goes well, these parties could still disrupt the market somewhat in the coming weeks.
The DCA quotation for both b- and c-carrots this week amounts to €16 to €18 per 100 kilos. Some washers are very consumed with their working stock and have to go to the farm to get carrots. Growers were certainly cautious at the beginning of this week due to the rain and that is reflected in the step that has raised the quotation this week.