While several municipalities of the shire of Alto Palancia, especially Castellnovo, are still assessing the damage caused by the hailstorm recorded last Wednesday in La Salzadella, it has already become clear that the weather has caused massive losses to their cherished and renowned cherry crops.
According to initial technical assessments, 90% of the early varieties have been affected. "There are farms where nothing could be saved," said Luis Alberich, one of the producers concerned. "It has been a disaster. The production had already been reduced because of the cold last year and the rains have finished it all off," affecting the cherries at the peak of the ripening process.
Another producer, Rafael Puig, noted that the few cherries that remain on the trees and which have not cracked "are moist and rotting, so we have to remove them from the trees to stop them from affecting those that have been saved." This has led to the campaign being delayed and to the cooperative still being non-operational.
Puig predicts that, by the end of the campaign, and as long as it doesn't rain again, the result of losses will be devastating. "In normal conditions, in my farms we get between 15,000 and 25,000 kilos of cherries, and this year the volume will fall below 10,000 kilos," he says. They hope it will not rain again, because in 15 days the mid-early varieties will be ready for the harvest.
The shortage of cherries in this municipality is also taking a toll on the market, with prices reaching eight Euro per kilo.
Source - http://www.freshplaza.com
