Spain: Artichoke production drops 30% due to frosts

Tudela: Frosts in Ribera during the week caused artichoke production to drop more than 30% (some 1,800,000 kilos) regarding last year's harvest that was around 6,000,000 kilos. That's the estimation from Enrique Castel-Ruiz Calvo, vice-president for the Protected Geographic Indication for Tudela's Artichoke, the entity controlling 500 hectares of this cultivation in Ribera.

According to Castel-Ruiz, the first effects on the plants came before Christmas, when the district registered temperatures of -5ºC. "Autumn was benign and the plant was tender, but these first frosts affected it quite a lot", explained the farmer, pointing out that these frosts "were what did it. With these Christmas frosts, artichoke was slowly recovering, but after three consecutive days with temperatures below zero in the beginning of the week just finished it", assured Castel-Ruiz.

For him, now is a key moment in the campaign. "If the Winter is dry and temperatures are mild, the plant will sprout again and we can close the campaign positively. But the Winter harvest will not finish before May, so a lot can happen before then", explained Castel-Ruiz.

More than the mentioned drop in production of more than 30%, the vice-president for PGI says that frosts also affect the artichoke's quality: "Consumers will have Tudela's artichoke in the market, but frosts affected the quality and it will not be possible to fruits pieces of maximum quality before the end of February or the first days of March".

Source: Diario Navarra