The cold weather in Poland will have an impact on the soft fruit production, says Emilia Lewandowska, office manager for Polish fruit exporter Fruit-Group: “This year we have a cold spring in Poland. Low temperatures don’t favor appropriate bud development or pollination. During the end of April and the beginning of May we had frost again, it was –5 degrees Celsius close to the ground. At the moment it’s clear that frost partly destroyed cherry and plump, as black buds can be seen. Blueberry buds and early varieties of redcurrant were also impacted. The flower development in blueberries was slower because of these low temperatures. In June we’ll know what the exact impact of these weather conditions will be.”
The weather could also have an impact on the apple production in Poland, but Lewandowska hopes weather conditions will improve before the harvest of the fruits begins. “In June we’ll know also how the pollination went. As you can image, low temperatures are not favorable for bees. For our apples, the frost also affected the crops to a lesser extent. There are a lower amount of flowering in Jonagold and Ligol apples. We hope that the weather conditions during harvesting will be favorable for soft fruit. By the end of last season, rain had a negative influence on the quality of the blueberries. We’re focusing on the blueberries most of all. At this moment quality is a major issue, which is mitigated by the appropriate selection of varieties.”
More and more apple growers are branching out to soft fruit, which means the overall acreage for soft fruit in Poland is increasing, Lewandowska explains: “Over the past ten years, we’ve had stable growth in terms of acreage. In our group of producers, we have 1600 ha of different species, mostly we have apple orchards. However, the recent economic situation has resulted in a decline in production profitability in apples. This in turn has caused our producers deciding to diversify their production and branch out to other fruits. Year by year, more producers are planting fruit such as cherries, plums, blueberries, redcurrant and pears.”
“The consumption of blueberries has grown over recent years. I hope that this year will be also positive, as export in the last season was stable compared to the seasons preceding it. It’s hard to predict how the situation will develop at this moment. We have a significant growth of costs in soft fruit production, while we’re making preparations for the sales. When you work with fruit you have to care about an appropriate refrigeration line, but energy costs have doubled. We hope that the market will compensate for this growth in all incurred costs.”
For more information:
Emilia Lewandowska
Fruit-Group SP.z.o.o.
Email: biuro@fruitgroup.pl
www.fruitgroup.pl