As a result of the phenomenon of El Niño, Mendoza's fruit will be smaller than usual. According to the National Agricultural Technology Institute (INTA), the atypical temperatures during spring caused a delay in the maturation of crops.
"As a result of the climatic events in September and October, when we had a cold spring, there was a delay in the crops maturation process and normal growth of some fruits and vegetables," stated the director of INTA's Agricultural experimental station in Junín, Fabian Tozzi.
Temperatures were lower than expected in Mendoza during spring and early summer. Meanwhile, five other provinces declared the state of water emergency because of what happened that semester.
As a result, the fruit will be smaller and the grapes' winemaking process will be delayed by nearly one month. "This means their entry into the domestic market will be delayed, and it will complicate things abroad, as they will no longer be the first grape to reach said market," said Tozzi.
Usually, San Juan is the first province to sell grapes, followed by Mendoza.
Regarding table grapes, the director said that consumers would be able to find an uneven cluster in the vegetable markets. "Usually, the client wants all his grapes to be the same, to have the same size. However, the fruit will be different this time," he said.
Additionally, table grapes are facing a new difficulty as new countries are interested in producing them, he added. "In this sense, there is a market segment to be recovered or others that need to be won so as to remain competitive."
According to Tozzi, this harvest's difficulties are due to the phenological difference increased by El Niño. This means that producers can find clusters that have matured right next to others that haven't matured.
"This happens frequently, but not to this extent. That's the problem. The fruit must be collected by hand, the work is going to take much longer," he said.
"This translates into a loss of performance," concluded the director. "It is still too early to estimate a number, because there are other variables that come into play: frost, landslides, hail, rot." Thus, the scope of the problem can't be measured yet, but the effects on the fruit are already significant.
Source: infocampo.com.ar