Before the 2019 harvest season, many producers in Poland announced that blackcurrant yields would be at a significantly lower level than last year. The increase in prices for fruit from berry plantations, which suffered as a result of spring frosts and drought, did not compensate for the loss of yield. The situation was definitely worse on the chokeberry market.
“The rates offered for blackcurrant at the very beginning of the harvest were quite low. The processing industry did not believe us producers that the yields this year will be much lower than in previous years, and particularly last year. We have already signaled a significant decrease in yields. The fruits were being sold for less around 1 PLN (0.23 EUR) per kilogram. Considering the intensity of harvesting and deliveries, it turned out that the growers were right. Crops were much lower than last year and therefore the price began to rise. At the end of the harvest, 2 PLN per kg was paid, and even in some regions the rates reached 2.20 PLN per kg, but by then, there were no more fruit on the market,” Stanisław Trzonkowski, a producer of blackcurrant and chokeberry, said.
In the case of chokeberry, compared to the previous year, the yield was even 5-6 times lower, and on some farms even more. That is why many growers did not decide to harvest - being aware that they would not even cover the harvesting costs.
This year's blackcurrant and chokeberry harvests were influenced by many factors - primarily the weakening of the bushes caused by very good fruiting last year, insufficient protection and fertilisation of plantations resulting from the long-term lack of profitability of producing these fruits in previous seasons. Many plantations were affected by spring frosts in most parts of the country, and drought was already felt in mid-April in many farms. This year's lower supply of blackcurrant and chokeberry was also the result of the reduction in the area of cultivation of both fruit. Berry growers, discouraged by low fruit prices over the past six seasons, are switching to other crops.
Stanisław Trzonkowski points out that due to lack of funds, many crops have been neglected. Plantations that have been poorly maintained and unprotected for a year, are very difficult to rebuild later.
At the end of the harvest season, the rates for chokeberry reached 1.50 PLN per kilogram (i.e. they were 3 times higher than last year), but due to a 5-6-fold drop in yields, growers' revenues were generally lower than last year.
Source: www.sadyogrody.pl
