Currently, horticultural greenhouse businesses are struggling with high energy costs. This is forcing some farms in Hesse to change their production. But high energy prices are not the only challenge. "The farms have various options for reducing heating costs: either they start cultivation later, as we are currently seeing in many places, or they cultivate at slightly lowered temperatures," says Christian Fetzer, specialist advisor for vegetable cultivation at the Hesse State Office for Agriculture (LLH).
Farms that lower greenhouse temperatures must pay greater attention to plant health. "If plants are grown in suboptimal conditions, they are also more susceptible. At the same time, some fungal diseases can multiply more easily, and control is more difficult," Fetzer says. "In the market, higher prices are not enforceable because customers will then avoid the produce."
For more information:
www.llh.hessen.de