As June progresses, the stone fruit supply is growing in the Spanish region of Aragon. "At the moment, we at Andreea Fruits are harvesting cherries. Next week we will start with apricots, and in about 20 days we will begin with the nectarines and flat peaches, and by July we will start the yellow peach campaign," says Miguel Ángel Loren.
As already announced by the region, both the cherry and apricot harvests in Aragon are expected to fall as a result of the weather conditions during the fruit setting period. "The impact of climate change is becoming more noticeable with each campaign, and the alternation of extreme heat periods with extreme cold periods, with some instances of torrential rains, has led to instability in the production."
"Regarding cherries, in addition to issues during the fruit setting, the cold in spring and the fact that the trees were generally very loaded have caused them not to develop properly, and there's a noticeable lack of larger sizes, although the quality is up to the usual standard," says Miguel Ángel.
"As for apricots, some varieties that should be arriving at different dates are expected to overlap due to the extreme weather recorded in spring, during the flowering. Murcia has had a very good apricot harvest, and for the affected varieties and areas of Aragon, shortages and surpluses may alternate at certain times of the campaign."
"In the case of nectarines, peaches and flat peaches, there has been a much better fruit setting and we see that there is more fruit on the trees than last year; however, due to the recent rains, we are seeing more fruit with an open pistilar closure and affected by cracking among the older flat peach varieties, so there may be some losses because of that. Lastly, regarding sizes, for now, there is still uncertainty due to the heavy load on the trees and the cold and heat we have experienced."
"However, we can assure that the quality is very good, and so is the taste. Last week, we participated in the Ricla Cherry Fair, which gave us one of our few opportunities to sell the fruit directly to consumers, and those who tasted our freshly harvested cherries were amazed by the flavor and size of the fruit we had for sale, which they could buy at the same price we sell to wholesalers."
"We see that customers are increasingly looking for flavor, and here in Spain in general, and in Aragon in particular, we know how to produce the fruit that consumers expect."
For more information:
Andreea Fruits
Tel.: +34 625 85 68 18
[email protected]