East-coast daffodil producers are celebrating their best harvest in 12 years after selling out of flowers 10 days before Easter.
Exceptionally mild weather meant more than 71 million stems were picked on farms owned by Grampian Growers members and sold into bumper markets in just 51 days.
Mark Clark, managing director of the Montrose-based co-operative, said the concentrated harvest finished 28 days earlier than in 2018.
“The last flowers left for supermarkets across the UK on Wednesday morning and we’ve had a great season, although it would have been fantastic to have another week to capitalise on the Easter market,” he said.
“Prices have risen every week, which is unusual and only happens when Easter is late, but we’ve had a great run this year.”
The harvest began on the second earliest day in the co-operative’s 51-year history and also finished on the second earliest day.
Mr Clark added: “Flowers were picked every single day, which is very unusual, and we ended up having the fourth highest volume ever.
“The only flowers left in the fields are the varieties for bulb production and they are left unpicked to ensure good yields.”
This week’s reprieve from a no-deal Brexit also came as a relief to the co-operative which has been working closely with the Scottish Government to ensure exports of bulbs to Europe would be unaffected if the UK crashes out of the EU.
“A delay till October means we should get right through the bulb export season without having to make alterations to export certification,” said Mr Clark.
“The same documentation as usual will continue and we can export from Montrose throughout mainland Europe.
“We had contingencies in place because if we had come out with no deal we would have needed two inspectors – one for the United States and another for the EU, where we usually need just one.”
Concerns over labour also proved unfounded this year, because while the number of employees picking daffodils was back by 20%, at 230 rather than 290 last year, they were fast and efficient.
“The quality of our workers was better, so the number of bunches picked a day were greater,” he said.
Grampian Growers send daffodils to Morrisons supermarkets direct and to packers in England which supply every other major retailer.
They also have major export orders to Boston and mainland Europe.
nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk
