According to industry experts, the 2021 harvest of many varieties of cherries may be approximately at the level of the ‘bad last year’. According to estimates, the harvest of cherries in Moldova amounted to only about 11,000 tons in 2020. It was almost twice as high in the best years of the five-year period: in 2019 – 20,000 tons, in 2018 and 2015 – 19,000 tons each. Fears of producers regarding the future cherry harvest appeared during the pollination period when there were unfavorable weather conditions everywhere in Moldova: either too cool, rainy, or windy. However, farmers counted on at least a high yield for self-pollinated cherry varieties (their share in the structure of cherry orchards is around a third). As early cherries will soon be available on the Moldovan market – according to farmers, it will happen at the end of the first week of June – the situation is less likely to improve. Orchards of self-pollinated and late varieties of cherries suffer because of daily rains. In the opinion of producers, even anti-rain films do not provide enough protection. The air humidity is still high, but there is not enough sunlight and heat. This is reflected in the mood of agricultural producers. The prevailing opinion is that both the quantity and quality of cherries harvest will decline sharply. Farmers who are hoping to get a medium to high quality produce claim that they will try to sell it to the EU market at the beginning of the season. Source - https://www.freshplaza.com