At the end of June a storm swept across the Sint-Truiden region in Belgium. The fruit cultivation area was hit hard because of it. “Currently we are still trying to assess damages, but it looks as though apples suffered the most damage from all top fruit,” says Luc Bels of Bels Best.
“Many comparisons are now being made to the Pukkelpop storm of 2011, which also caused a severe decline in the fruit harvest. The impact on apples is large, but the final damages will only be known in about a month. I know cultivators who had 100 percent of their apple trees blown down, or whose plantations are damaged in such a way they will not have any harvest at all. Pear trees were also affected, but it is expected those will be able to recover in the coming two months.”
A hard blow
Fruit cultivators already had two bad seasons in a row, especially because of the Russian boycott. “This has therefore hit us extra hard, it is a real blow for the cultivation of fruit. We can see part of the cultivators is losing hope, and that is a bad evolution.”
For more information:
Luc Bels
Bels-Best Fruit NV
Brustem-Dorp 8
3800 Sint-Truiden - Belgium
+32 0495-549750
+32 011-692689
