Cucumbers or pepinos love our climate and given any excuse, they overpopulate the greenhouses, flood the market and push prices down. Readers will remember the cucumber heaps on Carchuna beach a few years back.

Given that there are just so many of them, farmers are left with the bitter option of dumping tonnes of them to keep the prices above production costs.

But it’s not only that the cucumber plants have been going into overdrive, but also because markets have shrunk, thanks to the Russian export/import sanctions. These sanctions not only affect direct trading but also indirect trading; Germany might import from Spain to sell them on to the Russians, but with this option closed, exports to Germany suffer.

Consequently, the Organización Interprofesional de Frutas y Hortalizas de Andalucia is contemplating recommending that farmers in Almería and Granada eliminate only but the best specimens.

Relatively high temperatures for the season and late planting has produced a lot of inferior quality cucumbers, which have flooded the market, so, dump them and send in only your best.

Obviously you can’t just dump them anywhere so the transfer plant in the Barranco de Lújar will be the dumping point for the Costa Tropical if this drastic measure is taken.

(News: Carchuna, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)