Yesterday, Spanish fruit advocacy organization ASAJA (Alicante) warned that hail storms and the uprooting of vines are negatively affecting the table grape harvest. The fruit that remains will be of ‘exceptional quality’, but this will not compensate for the losses of the farmers in the area, who are currently finishing the bagging task and have already begun the collection of the earlier varieties.
This means that the 40 million kilos that had been registered in the denomination of origin for this year, the agrarian organization considers some 12 million lost, which will leave the final harvest at about 28 million, 30% less. Production has practically been reduced by half, according to the head of the Table Grape sector. from Asaja Alicante, Pedro Rubira, compared with the volumes that were handled only four years ago, in 2017, when they reached 50 million kilos.
Worst off is the Aledo variety, the New Year’s Eve grape, of which 7 million kilos have been lost due to the strong hail episodes in May and June, the abandonment of cultivation and the grape uprooting of this last year due to lack of profitability, which Asaja estimates at 300 hectares. Thus, of the 20 million kilos of this late variety registered with the regulatory council, this year only 13 million kilos will be marketed.
Source: digismak.com