What crops are profitable in Sweden

Name: What crops are profitable in Sweden
Uploaded: 2023-02-15T17:02:34+00:00
Duration: 1 min 4 s
Channel: Richard Perkins
Description: Richard Perkins explains how crop profitability in Sweden (around 59°N) depends on both market structure and cultural food traditions. He notes that…

15 Feb 2023 · 1 min

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Richard Perkins explains how crop profitability in Sweden (around 59°N) depends on both market structure and cultural food traditions. He notes that tomatoes are low-value locally because of competition from large heated glasshouse producers, while fresh local new potatoes command higher prices around midsummer due to tradition; a balance of high- and low-value crops is recommended.

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And so what you see here is what it looks like in our case, up at 59 degrees north in Sweden in our marketplace. Interesting. You'll see for example, that there are tomatoes in the low value section. And that's because we don't have a culture of heating tunnels or greenhouses for indoor tomato production. In our case, you would then be competing with massive industry glass houses that just basically out compete you. Likewise things like potato, etc. It's just much more economic for a bigger organic grower to do that on a field scale. However, you've got to be sensitive to the cultural nuances. For example, fresh local new potatoes for midsummer here is totally traditional and totally expected. So it often has a much higher value than just standard storage potatoes. And those cultural things will be different in every country. And you'll know them intuitively from growing up. You know, some people must have cabbage regularly in Germany, for example, even though it might be a low value crop. So it doesn't mean we have to only grow high value crops. We need a balance of high and low value.