As a comment to the fact that cherry growers of the Bari province are threatening to not harvest their produce due to the very low prices, Apeo chairman Giacomo Suglia (in the photo) said that "we should not add fuel to the fire." Associations are requiring an intervention by the authorities (mayor, president of the region, prefect) to solve the problem, otherwise protests may endanger the public order.
"The fact that prices are not satisfactory does not depend on the producers, mayors or organisations. It is because our cherries have medium-small grades whereas retailers want 24+ for 500 gram punnets or 26+ for 2, 3 or 5 kg crates."
"And if that is not enough, production had a 15-day delay and ended up overlapping with produce from Vignola, Spain and Trento."
"It is not even due to consumption, because demand is high. Any organisation that is better than us is more than welcome to help us find markets that can absorb our produce, but we should not make the situation worse for the entire system."
Author: Raffaella Quadretti
Copyright: www.freshplaza.it