Europe's vegetable farmers warn of shortages as energy crisis bites

Across northern and western Europe, vegetable producers are contemplating halting their activities because of the financial hit from Europe's energy crisis, further threatening food supplies.

Surging power and gas prices will impact crops grown through the winter in heated greenhouses such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, and those which need to be placed in cold storage, such as apples, onions and endives.

Endives are particularly energy hungry. After the bulbs are harvested in the autumn, they are stored in below-freezing temperatures and then later replanted in temperature-controlled containers to allow for year-round production.

"We really wonder if we'll harvest what is in the fields this winter," Lefebvre told Reuters at the site where his endives are packaged.

European farmers are warning of shortages. The anticipated hit to production and jump in prices means supermarkets may switch to sourcing more goods from warmer countries such as Morocco, Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt.

Surging gas prices are the biggest cost vegetable farmers cultivating inside greenhouses face, farmers said. Meanwhile, two French farmers renewing their electricity contracts for 2023 said they were being quoted prices more than 10 times those of 2021.

"In the coming weeks I will plan the season but I don't know what to do," said Benjamin Simonot-De Vos, who grows cucumbers, tomatoes and strawberries south of Paris.

"If it stays like this there's no point starting another year. It's not sustainable."

HEADING SOUTH

Farmers are not just contending with spiralling energy prices. The cost of fertiliser, packaging and transport are all on the rise and jeopardising margins.

"We face an overall increased production cost of around 30 per cent," said Johannes Gross, deputy sales manager at the German cooperative Reichenau-Gemüse whose greenhouses cover about 60 hectares. Energy accounted for anywhere between half and two-thirds of these extra costs, he said.

"Some colleagues are thinking about leaving their greenhouses empty to keep the costs as low as possible. Nobody knows what will happen next year," he added.

Greenhouse industry group Glastuinbouw Nederland says up to 40 per cent of its 3,000 members are in financial distress.

Even in sun-flushed countries like Spain, fruit and vegetable farmers are grappling with a 25 per cent increase in fertiliser costs.

Jack Ward, chief executive of the British Growers Association, said it was inevitable production of fruit and vegetables would shift to warmer climes.

"We will move production further and further south, down through Spain and into Morocco and bits of Africa," Ward said.

The European Union plans to raise its target to tackle global warming under the Paris climate agreement, although the upgrade is unlikely to happen in time for this year's UN climate summit, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

A draft of the EU's negotiating mandate for the COP27 summit in November, seen by Reuters, said the 27-country bloc intends to update its "nationally determined contribution" (NDC) - the contribution each country makes towards the 2015 Paris accord to prevent disastrous climate change.

The EU, the world's third-biggest emitter, has pledged to cut its net emissions by 55 per cent by 2030, from 1990 levels - one of the most ambitious goals among major economies.

EU officials hope it will be possible to nudge that goal a few percentage points higher. That's because the bloc's package of climate policies was designed in July 2021 to deliver the 55 per cent emissions target - and parts of it have since been made more ambitious.

The EU "stands ready to update its NDC in line with the final outcome of the 'Fit for 55' package in due time", the draft said, referring to a package of climate policies EU countries and lawmakers are negotiating. The draft could still change before EU countries approve it in October.