Rich harvests in Switzerland coming from summer fruits
The weather was the dominant theme throughout the whole 2014 summer fruit campaign. The 2014 summer season almost fell in the water. This actually did not have any negative effects on harvest quantities because most of the fruits were extraordinarily large.
The first strawberries, under film, were already harvested in early April. The fruits out in the open suffered, initially, from the damp, cool weather in May. Despite this, harvest quantities sharply increased mid-May. 1,490 tons of fruit were harvested in the first week of June. On June 6th 280 tons of strawberries picked, making it the most productive day. In 2013 this amount of strawberries was not reached until mid-June. Despite cool temperatures and lots of rain the quality of the strawberries was good. The 2014 harvest volume of 8,725 was 25% higher than the previous record of 6,995 tons.
The summer raspberry harvest started mid-June. In early July the harvest volume reached a high point with 160 tons in one week. After this, the harvest volume decreased until the end of July, but the week turnout remained quite stable at around 70 tons/week until mid-September. This year the total raspberry harvest was 18% higher than last year's harvest (1,405 this year, compared to 1,192 last year)
The remaining berries also had a good season with good numbers. The blackberries even hit a new harvest record with 420 tons, 60 tons more than last year. 457 tons of blueberries were harvested, which was clearly more than in previous years (when the harvest volume was around 320 tons). Currants were harvested slightly less than last year (278 tons this year, compared to 305 tons last year).