After the frost in April there was only around a quarter of the cherries in Belgium left to harvest. The atmosphere among the growers is deflated. "It's terrible that we've lost so much, but there's nothing we can do. We should look ahead to next year," believes Bert Vanweddingen of Cherryfarm.
Pushing through
His harvest ended this week. "It's finished much earlier than in other years. On June 12 we started harvest and less than a month later we have finished. Last year we had the hail and this year there was frost. It's extreme, but we have to push through."
Import from the Netherlands
The prices are at a good level. "They are around 6.5 to 7 Euro for the 32s (Wednesday July 5) and slightly less is paid for the smaller ones. The prices make up for some of it, but it doesn't cover all of the season. There is a lot of import from the Netherlands at the moment. The harvest went well there."
He is still positive despite the disappointing year. "We will need to move more towards covered cultivation in the future. At the moment I have three out of 18 hectares covered and we see big differences. Bigger sizes are harvested and we get better prices for them. We're also less worried about those cherries. I'm going to adapt my business plan and will try to have everything covered within 2 years."
For more information:
Cherryfarm
Sint-Kristinastraat 12
3800 Brustem - Belgium
T :+32 11 68 39 46
www.cherryfarm.be
For more information:
Cherryfarm
Sint-Kristinastraat 12
3800 Brustem - Belgium
T :+32 11 68 39 46
www.cherryfarm.be
