Rising electricity and gas prices will affect agricultural crops grown during the winter in heated greenhouses, such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.

Vegetable growers in Europe are considering halting production due to the financial blow dealt to them by the European energy crisis, raising the costs of greenhouse cultivation and refrigerated storage.

Rising electricity and gas prices will affect agricultural crops grown during the winter in heated greenhouses, such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, but also those that need to be stored in cold storage, such as apples, onions or endive.

Emmanuel Lefebvre produces thousands of tons of endive annually on a farm in northern France, but this year he may give up production because of crippling energy costs needed to cool the harvested heads.

Growing endive requires a particularly large amount of energy. After being harvested in the autumn, the heads are stored at below-zero temperatures and then replanted in temperature-controlled spaces to enable year-round production.

“We are really wondering whether we will harvest what is in the fields this winter,” Lefebvre told Reuters. European farmers are warning of possible shortages. The expected blow to production and price surge could prompt supermarkets to source more agricultural products from warmer countries, such as Morocco, Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt.

The biggest cost item for greenhouse vegetable growers is gas, farmers say. Prices are more than 10 times higher than in 2021, they complain in France.

“In the coming weeks I will plan the season, but I don’t know what I will do,” said Benjamin Simonot-De Vos, who grows cucumbers, tomatoes and strawberries south of Paris. “If it stays like this, there is no point in starting another year. It is unsustainable,” he added.

In addition to expensive energy, farmers’ profits are also threatened by the ever-rising costs of fertilizer, packaging and transport.

Even fruit and vegetable growers in sunny countries such as Spain are having problems, primarily with fertilizer costs, which have risen by a quarter.

Jack Ward, executive director of the British Growers Association, believes that production will move ever farther south, beyond Spain to Morocco and parts of Africa.

Source: poslovni.hr