In the summer swarms of pesticide-resistant diamondback (cabbage) moths decimated young plants on Woodside Farms in Trinity, raising fears that the traditional seasonal vegetable could be missing from Islanders’ Christmas dinner plates.
Fortunately, farmers in the west of the Island were not so badly hit and for Lucas Brothers in St Brelade it is business as usual.
‘We have no shortage of sprouts – in fact we have no shortages of anything,’ Andrew Lucas said. ‘We were fortunate to find an organic product that the moths didn’t like and we were lucky that it worked so we have plenty of sprouts for Christmas.’
It is a different story for the Island’s Co-op stores, however, as they rely on Woodside for supplies of fresh local sprouts.
‘We have plenty of sprouts but unfortunately we are having to import them from the UK,’ chief operating officer Mark Cox said.
