Producers in the Las Caderechas valley of Burgos expect a "catastrophic" harvest, with production dropping by 70 percent, to between 50,000 and 55,000 kilos for the guarantee brand, compared to 135,000 tonnes kilos last year, although the quality of the fruit will be extraordinary, as assured by José Ignacio Velasco, its technical director, to the news agency Efe.
The 2017 campaign will be "catastrophic; the worst in the history of the guarantee brand," he lamented.
The frosts and storms of the past months have greatly reduced the amount of fruit in the trees and, although more kilos could be harvested, many cherries will not meet the brand's requirements.
Consequently, 2017 will be "the worst year" in the history of the guarantee brand Cereza del Valle de las Caderechas, which has a history spanning for fourteen seasons.
In any case, the quality of the fruit "will be extraordinary," mostly due to the high temperatures and rains of the last month and a half. The ripening of the cherries is going well, with good sizes and good sugar levels.
Also, the harvest will kick off fifteen days earlier this year, so it should be finished by the end of July, when in previous years it has lasted until mid-August.
Velasco explained that the main objective of the guarantee brand is now to market the cherries as efficiently as possible, which is why the producers have attended the 14th Cherry Festival of the Caderechas Valley, held in Salas de Bureba.
He recalled that, in some years, the price of a two kilo box of cherries has reached up to 150 Euro, because there is always someone who "wants to boast of having the best cherries."
The technical director has insisted that, despite the fall in production, "the market will have a good supply of cherries," and that these can already be purchased in Madrid, the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Asturias or Valencia, as well as in Burgos and the Basque Country, which are its usual destinations.
Source: EFE
