Storm Caetano, which crossed the country from west to east (31 departments under orange alert), brought traffic to a standstill in some areas, deprived homes of electricity, and impacted several apple orchards.
"The snowstorm that hit central western France has had a significant impact on some of the apple orchards in the Loire Valley, particularly in the departments of Sarthe, Indre-et-Loire and Maine-et-Loire. The weight of the snow on the anti-hail nets has flattened and broken trees, even destroying some orchards," explains the French Apple Pear Association (ANPP). Although it is still too early to put an exact figure on the damage, an initial assessment should be available this week.
ANPP
Alerted to the situation, French minister of agriculture Annie Genevard promised that the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry would "without delay" activate the procedure for recognising agricultural disasters for loss of funds. "We would like to pay tribute to its responsiveness in the face of this situation, which is damaging to a number of our producers."
ANPP also published an update (November 20th) of its apple and pear harvest forecasts
Apples slightly down on forecast
A harvest of 1,463,000 tons was announced at the beginning of August at Prognosfruit. The November update brings this harvest down to 1,426,000 tons, a downward correction of 3%. This is 5% less than in 2023, but in line with the three-year average. Weather conditions in the spring and at harvest time are the main reasons for this change. Among the major varieties, only the Golden and Jonagold are above average. The French apple harvest therefore remains at an average level, against a backdrop of large deficits in Europe.
Recent information from other member states provides the following clarifications: weather conditions since Prognosfruit and small sizes could lead to a harvest below the 10.2 million tons announced at Prognosfruit.
- Spain: small sizes, significant downward revision in Catalonia (520,000 T/567,000 T).
- Italy: slight increase, large sizes, late harvest, less processing.
- Germany: small harvest in the north, but upward revision in the south.
- Belgium: stable.
- Netherlands: slight drop/forecasts.
- Slovenia: down (heatwave and drought).
- Czech Republic, Austria, Romania: low initial harvest still impacted by storm Boris.
- Poland: over-ripening, poor conservation (heatwave in August), 2 weeks ahead of schedule.
Pear harvest revised upwards
On the other hand, the forecast pear harvest has been revised upwards to 134,000 tons. The forecast was 119,000 tons at the beginning of August. The large summer pear harvest (now behind us) has been further accentuated. The overall harvest is therefore above the three-year average (although this average includes two years of small harvests).
Note on methodology: the harvest forecasts combine data reported by the 1,300 members of ANPP, who account for 75% of French apple production and 50% of pear production. They are then extrapolated to the entire French production.
For more information:
Association Nationale Pommes Poires
Sandrine Gaborieau
[email protected]