2023-05-03 05:12:00
Jean-Marc is a fruit and vegetable producer. What he’s planting right now are onions. However, for several years, climate change has complicated its production. “Other countries are the same. In Spain, I also hear that it’s complicated in terms of drought and irrigation and these are the two things that will affect the problem. You have to know how to irrigate the onion, but in Belgium, we are not equipped to“, he explains.
His harvest last year was catastrophic: he lost 30 to 40% of his production. “We stored them, but many have grown back, and when they grow back, they become soft and therefore good to throw away“, demonstrates Jean-Marc. Global warming is therefore no stranger to this: “We had a very dry spring which didn’t favor the situation, and then a wet late autumn which caused the onion to start up once more when it shouldn’t have“.
Result: while he was selling his onions at €1/kg last year, Jean-Marc had to increase his price by 80 cents to reach €1.8 per kg… 80% increase (the average increase in onions measured in supermarkets by Test Achats is +62%).
In a shop in Mons, the onions come from Belgium, but also from France and the Netherlands. Here too, the drought caused the price to rise, with an increase of 75 cents for the same product.
What is the behavioral impact on the customer knowing that the onion is one of the most used vegetables in the kitchen? “I prefer to take quality than quantity. Then, we are not going to deprive ourselves of onions!“, notes a customer.
In the coming weeks, the first onions will come out of the ground and if the harvest is good, the price is likely to start falling once more!
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