Spain - Castellon speeds up orange harvest due to fear of frosts
Businesses and cooperatives are speeding up the orange harvest ahead of the possible frosts that may be imminent and which could spoil their fruit. This has been confirmed by the province's two main agrarian organizations, which have confimed that growers are "a little afraid of recording damage in the second part of the campaign, after having already lost half of the clemenules," as acknowledged by the head for citrus fruits at Fepac-Asaja, José Francisco Nebot. His counterpart at La Unió, José Ramón Urbán, points out that producers without insurance "are suffering the most for what may happen." Consequently, "whatever little clemenules remained have quickly been harvested over the last few days," notes Urbán. Just like Nebot, he points out that another "four or five varieties have also been harvested, including the hernandina, clemenvilla, safor, ortanique and nadorcott. The fact is that, wherever temperatures remain below zero degrees Celsius for several hours, the fruit can be spoiled, but this also applies to those varieties that are harvested later, such as the navel or lane late. That is why producers are anxious for the cold wave to pass and take the frosts "to other areas, as has already happened in the past, thanks to the mountains that surround us," points out Urbán. In this regard, Nebot is slightly more optimistic and is confident that Castellon will be able to escape the devastating effect of the ice. Source - http://www.freshplaza.com
