Harvest update: The 2025 season sees a challenging start
Timely crop updates are paramount for our customers in the F&B industry, so we’re sharing our first summary of the year from our partner growers and expert agronomy teams. This update covers our Spanish strawberry farm and Polish spring crop – find out more about how temperature fluctuations, grey beetles and cold frost have impacted 2025’s crop performance to date.
A wet start to the Spanish strawberry season
Our Spanish strawberry fields experienced a wet and cool start to the season, resulting in slower crop development and a delay in ripening. However, temperatures began to rise in the week leading up to Easter, which helped improve growing conditions. From that point onwards, the harvest yielded good volumes, with fruit reaching a Brix level of 7 or higher. The season is expected to end mid- or late June.
A mixed bag for Polish fields
The second half of April brought a shift in weather conditions across Poland, impacting crop development and harvest schedules. Widespread night frosts were recorded throughout the country. The following weeks saw temperatures reach summer-like levels of around 22-24 C°, but recently we’ve seen heavy rainfall in southern and central Poland, while East Lubelskie has experienced four consecutive weeks without rain. The first half of May is bringing colder weather and night frost, which are affecting fruit crops.
Vegetable crops have faced more challenges than usual this season, caused by the grey beetle population, affecting carrots and red beets. Some fields have been affected and there’s been damage to red beets fields, with further signs of impact still emerging. On a more positive note, the harvest of the winter crop of spinach is complete, with the spring crop progressing steadily following successful germination. Our carrots are completing germination early May, and rhubarb development is progressing as anticipated.
The fruit crop performance has been affected by the night frost in April and May. Despite this, we see strawberries blooming in early May, and the first fruits in early June. Blackcurrants and sour cherries are in the process of blooming even with some impact from the cold and frost, and our raspberry summer crop is showing some indications of flowers already, with the Autumn crop displaying normal vegetation. Our aronias are in blooming and their development is on track. We are expecting frost damages on sour cherry, black currant, and not covered strawberry plantations, that have been affected by the early May frost. The exact impact is still to be accessed.
Looking forward
It’s been a varied start to the harvest, but at its core, nature is unpredictable, and our expert teams are well-equipped to handle it. We work hard to make our predictions as accurate as possible and continue to monitor the health, quality and volume of our crops as the season progresses. Although the start of the season has brought its fair share of challenges, our crops are maintaining our usual high quality – we’ll be sure to keep you updated on any important developments and news.
If you have any questions about the first harvest update of the year, or would like to learn more about our approach to agronomy, feel free to get in touch today.
