El Bierzo's Conference pear harvest is about to end and producers expect to reach 12.5 million kilos this season. However, the amount of fruit that can be marketed under the quality seal will be reduced due to the damage caused by hail storms.
"We still don't have all the data, but it seems our forecast wasn't that far off and we'll reach 12.5 million kilos," stated Pablo Linares, Technical Director of the Conference Pear's Certification Mark.
A significant part of the crop doesn't meet the quality standards required to obtain the guarantee seal because of the damages caused to the fruit by the hailstorms in June.
"That's the biggest difference between this season and the previous one. Last season we harvested pretty much the same volume as this season, but we didn't have any incidents. It was a very good season in terms of quality," Linares stated.
It's worth noting that, despite the weather setbacks, the quality of the fruit that wasn't affected by the hail was similar to that of the previous season.
"It's more or less in the same conditions as last year. We achieved high quality but we lost some of that quality fruit because of the hail," Linares stated.
Conference pear production in El Bierzo is mainly concentrated in Carracedelo, Ponferrada (Dehesas and Posada), and Camponaraya, which together account for 80% of the annual crop.
Source: elbierzonoticias.com