Due to the recent abundance of sunshine, an aubergine farmer in France recently began his aubergine campaign earlier than usual. The farmer has already carried out Integrated Pest Management releases, and the first eggplants were harvested on May 2.
The campaign’s future raises doubts despite a promising beginning. Many merchants continue to provide Spanish eggplants even though wholesale customers were anticipating French eggplants.
The competition from Spanish eggplants has caused costs to drop significantly. The farmer had great expectations for the season, expecting to harvest 700 tonnes by the end of October, or around 100 tonnes more than the previous year.
The water supply is an issue, though, as there hasn’t been much rain this winter and a drought is already a possibility. According to the farmer, a more urgent issue than a labour shortage in the industry is currently access to water. The farmer has invested in plant and production in spite of the difficulties in the hopes that he will recover by the end of the season.
Photo : https://www.pexels.com/photo/eggplant-vegetable-plant-lot-321551/
09 May 2023
