UK vegetable crisis to end in April as growing conditions bounce back

By Jillian MacMath, AccuWeather staff writer

March 27,2017, 8:37:12AM,EDT

 

 

As winter comes to an end, so too, is the United Kingdom’s lingering vegetable crisis.
Vegetable stock from numerous European countries is predicted to make a full recovery by April, following wintertime shortages as a result of bad weather.
The shortages, which hit lettuce, spinach, courgette and broccoli the hardest, have dramatically affected the U.K.’s major grocery retailers including Tesco, Morrison’s, The Co-Operative and Ocado.

(Twitter photo/Nick Johnson)

Signage posted at a Greater Manchester Co-Op said: “This is because of flooding in Spain and bad weather throughout Europe. We’re doing our best to get any out of stock items back in store as soon as possible.”
Spain’s biggest growing region includes Murcia, Almeria and Alicante, AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys said.
“The reason for this is their climate, which includes warm days and cool nights, especially from November to April,” he said.
But a cold snap in January along with snowfall and flooding rain has wiped out numerous crops, which are supplied to the United Kingdom during the winter.
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"We've seen horrific weather on our farms in the Murcia region," Anthony Gardiner of G's, a major supplier of fresh produce, told CNN.
"Over four days just before Christmas, the region had the same amount of rainfall that London gets in six months. It was an absolute deluge, and a lot of crops were washed away,” Gardiner said.
Since January, many stores have struggled to keep up with demand with some even limiting the number available to purchase per person.
The dilemma, which spawned trending social media hashtags such as #courgettecrisis and #vegcrisis, won’t last for much longer.
“Since then, they have rebounded. With near normal temperatures and precipitation amounts, I'd expect a full recovery by April,” Roys said.