Will the 2018/2019 season be the most exciting onion campaign in years? Worldwide, the weather has had a major impact on the harvests. Not only Europe was plagued by heat, the mercury also rose high in California. Other parts of the US recorded a lot of rain, and the news coming from Asia were also not all good.
At the start of the 2017/18 apple season, European apple stocks were approximately 30% lower, creating a great pull for South African apples, but it’s expected that the start of the new season will be tougher, as Europe expects a slightly above average crop.
All of the plant material for South Africa’s banana industry comes from a single tissue culture laboratory, which also exports to 25 countries throughout Africa, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean islands.
These are challenging times for SA farmers, whether viewed from the perspective of rising input costs or the weather outlook. In a few weeks the 2018-2019 summer crop production season will start on a negative note, partly due to rising costs of agricultural inputs such as fertiliser and fuel.
An Australian company says its root-zone cooling technology has resulted in a huge increase in greenhouse lettuce yields and faster growing times.
The Northern Hemisphere is slowly moving towards autumn. This spells the end of the stone fruit seasons. The hot, sunny weather experienced in the summer months have had consequences for the market. Yet, traders in most countries are satisfied with the results. Canadian cherry farmers have benefited from the trade war between the USA and China. Australian exporters have shifted their focus to the Asian markets.
