Growers struggle with rain and cold: Flowers, beets, and potatoes are especially damaged in the Netherlands

With a lot of rain first and then a few days of severe cold, many arable farmers are not having an easy time. The cold can be disastrous for those who still have sugar beets and potatoes in the ground, while the rain hinders flower bulb growers. "Tulip growers throughout the Netherlands are very concerned about the amount of rainwater just after planting," says the KAVB, the interest group for the flower bulb sector. "As a result, the bulbs could not ground properly and that makes them vulnerable." Normally bulb growers plant in the second half of October and in November. "But the tulip bulbs were now planted about six weeks later. That wouldn't be a problem if December had been a dry month. But it wasn't." The association expects that between 10 and 25 percent of the harvest could be affected by the excessive rain. The exact damage will only be clear in a few weeks. The cold is hardly a problem for the tulips. Sugar beets and potatoes are less resistant to cold That's different ...