These days, the climate continues to put a strain on various producers. In the winter-spring months, the anomalous conditions were worrying for some vegetable references and for the stone fruit. Despite this, good conditions for the development of the plants have been reported throughout Italy, even after a slight increase in the national areas invested.
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In Basilicata, the harvest of the first early apricots began on May 6, 2019. Franco Lillo, cultivation technician of OP AssoFruit Italia in Scanzano Jonico (MT), gives us a picture of the situation and tells us: "We have started to harvest the Ninfa variety from undercover orchards. The product has a red colouring and an exceptional brix grade".
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"The Mogador variety, also in greenhouse, has excellent colour, size and sugar content. For open field plantings, it is necessary to wait another 5-6 days before harvesting".
"The expectation of a week became only of a few days, due to some returns of cold recorded during the phenological phase of the plant. These conditions have absolutely not affected the crop".
"The recent late winter cold is not worrying for our stone fruit. While the cold weather leads to higher harvesting costs due to the slower ripening of the fruit, it also gives the apricots more colour and flavour".
"In these very first days, we have collected about 10% of the entire production. Thanks to the work of the workers in the field, we select the product ready for sale, aiming very much at quality and brix grade".