Drier Swedish summer means fewer melons

Ingmar Nilsson, the largest Swedish melon grower who grows open field melons, is seeing a lower harvest this summer 2023 due to the very dry conditions. Although the second-generation melon grower in Frillestad outside Helsingborg, Skåne, Sweden, is counting on warmer summers, this year he has had to contend with a drier spring and summer and less rain. "I'm irrigating, it's already very dry here. This season I only have 6,000 melon plants. 50% of them are Cantaloupe, the rest are Galia, Piel de Sapo, honeydew melon and watermelons," says Nilsson. Although he uses the warm climate to his advantage to grow sweet melons and watermelons, the weather in Sweden remains unpredictable and somewhat challenging. "In the summer we have more daylight than Spain. Our usual summer temperature fluctuates between 18-30 degrees during the day and 12-20 degrees at night, which gives the melons a decent temperature to grow with lots of light to grow quickly," says Nilsson. The approximate wholesale ...