An early asparagus appearance in the Netherlands due to unusually high winter temperatures has led to early crop losses that will have impacts for the rest of the season.

The asparagus crop usually begins to grow as soon as temperatures reach around 12°C (54°F) - a rarity in the winter season.

However, temperatures throughout December averaged 9.7°C (48°F) compared with the normal average of 3.7°C (39°F), which led to an extremely early harvest of some white asparagus in the leading production regions of the south.

Small quantities have already been harvested, although the crop could not be sold in the usual way, Netherlands Asparagus Center (Nederlands Asperge Centrum) managing director Richard Wilms tells www.freshfruitportal.com.

"I have never seen anything like this before. We've never seen the asparagus spears come out so early in the season and have been very surprised by this," he says.

"Throughout the month of December temperatures in the south of the Netherlands, where the main asparagus production areas are located, have been particularly warm and this was the case in the lead up to the Christmas period.

"It means that we will have a lesser harvest from April until June because all of the spears that were showing early have been harvested."

The forecast now is for temperatures to drop again and for the crop to go into a rest period.

"When the temperature goes up again at the end of March and when the soil temperature reaches around 12°C (54°F) or higher, the spears will start to grow again and we can harvest the asparagus at the beginning of April as we normally do.

"The asparagus that has already been harvested was a very low volume in a commercial sense.

"It's a bit too early to forecast production volumes for April, but it will be less than previous years."

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