This year’s apple yield will be even lower than the disappointing yield of the previous year, according to the Statistical Office of Baden-Württemberg. This is evident of the first estimates in the fruit harvest report of mid-July.
A total harvest of 263 million metric tons of apples is expected, a situation comparable with the harvest in 2010. The long-term average (2010/2015) of apples is 293 million metric tons in Baden-Württemberg. The total surface of commercial apple orchards is estimated at 10,170 hectares and this year's yield is calculated at 25.9 metric tons per hectare.
In 2011 and 2014 the largest yields of sweet cherries of the last 10 years were harvested (20,380 metric tons and 20,1400 metric tons). This year the sweet cherriy harvest is estimated at 10,860 metric tons.
The harvest of plums, the largest group of stone fruit in Baden-Württemberg, is estimated at about 8 metric tons per hectare, with a cultivation area of 1500 hectares that amounts to an expected harvest of 11,840 metric tons. This is below average; the long-term average over 2010/2015 is 18,070 metric tons.
There are many reasons for this poor harvest and they vary depending on the location. The reasons range from heavy rain, which influenced the insect pollination, frost damage, especially in the area around Lake Constance, hail, pests and the natural yearly alternation, which is the natural two-yearly variation in the fruit yield.
For more information:
Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg
Böblinger Straße 68
70199 Stuttgart
www.statistik.baden-wuerttemberg.de