The peach campaign has already kicked off in the Spanish Region of Murcia, and in about 15 days, the harvest of the varieties under the PGI Melocotón de Cieza will begin. "The stone fruit campaign started at the end of April, about 10 days earlier than normal for all varieties in general, and although this advantage might be gradually lost as the campaign progresses, the Romea will also arrive earlier this year," says Javier Martínez Gabaldón, secretary of the Regulatory Council of the PGI, and also of the La Vega de Cieza cooperative.
The last few months have been marked by very warm temperatures in Murcia, with average temperatures from August reaching the highest levels in the last 64 years, even breaking some records, as we saw in November and January, two of the months in which stone fruit trees need to accumulate hours of cold for proper budding. "This has been a problem this year for the two varieties covered by the PGI, because due to this lack of cold, there hasn't been an adequate setting, so this year's production will be lower than in previous campaigns."
"We had already had this problem in previous campaigns, so we are planning to introduce other varieties with lower cold hour requirements into the PGI Melocotón de Cieza which are already cultivated within the area covered by the protected geographical indication. With a wider range of varieties, we'll address the impact of changing climate on the peach production and also manage to cover the entire peach campaign within the framework of the PGI."
"In any case, the quality will be as good as always, as all the peaches that earn the PGI seal excel when it comes to Brix degrees, sizes and coloration. Moreover, this spring we are having very stable weather conditions, without rain and with warm temperatures. This has prevented the different varieties from overlapping and has resulted in them having a better coloration and Brix than in other years. This applies even to the early and extra-early varieties, for which acquiring those qualities is usually a bigger struggle."
For more information:
Cieza Peach PGI
[email protected]
https://igpmelocotondecieza.org