Fyens Stiftstidende reports that this season’s settlement price for blackcurrants was so catastrophically low for a second year in a row that many Danish fruit farmers are switching to other crops.

Furthermore, EU-subsidised growing of the fruit in Poland contributes to making it impossible for Danish farmers to compete.

Can’t pay off
Anne Fabricius, a consultant at the horticultural trade association Dansk Gartneri, told the newspaper that some farmers had already made the change.

“Already last year a lot of them made the change,” she said. “And the Danish area farmed for blackcurrants could be halved after this season.”

The settlement price of 60-80 øre per kilo of fruit is the lowest the settlement price has ever been and effectively means that farming the berry cannot pay off.

Fabricius explained that when Poland entered the EU in 2004, farming grants were given to blackcurrant farmers.

“At that time the price of blackcurrants was good so that’s what the Poles banked on,” she said.

“About 10,000 hectares were planted, and that has knocked the bottom out of the market.”