According to the first preliminary reports, Brandenburg's harvest-correspondents are expecting a harvest of 204 decitons per hectare this year. That is 37 decitonnes per hectare less than the 6-year average and 142 decitonnes per hectare below the yields of last year, reports the Bureau of Statistics Berlin-Brandenburg.
The low yields were mostly caused by the sudden frosts during blossom in April.
Currently, 17,800 tons of apples are expected. Last year it was 27,999 tons. The yields are varying strongly from plantation to plantation. While some businesses are expecting harvests of more than 200 decitonnes per hectare, others are calculating total losses. With an acreage of 873 hectares, apples are the predominant fruit variety in the state of Brandenburg and its production is significant for the outcome of the general fruit harvest.
The main cultivation area for this fruit are in the counties of Potsdam-Mittelmark and Märkisch-Oderland, as well as around the town of Frankfurt (Oder). These results are based solely on estimations conducted by harvest- and business-correspondents from mid July 2017. Depending on the weather situation, these numbers may still change up until the beginning of the harvest.
Source: Statistik BB