Harvest season|The harvest is expected to be good both in terms of berries and fruits.
August the harvest is expected to be good both in terms of berries and fruits, although the beginning of the year has been full of challenges. The fruit and berry growers’ association says in its press release that the availability of raspberries, currants, gooseberries and bush blueberries is now at its highest, but strawberries are also still available.
In addition, the apples have ripened earlier than before, and the first pickings have already started in the last few weeks in southern Finland. However, the harvest is expected to be normal, as there was quite a lot of winter damage in the apple orchards.
The union an apple grower acting as vice president Toni Rahkonen commented to STT that the usual harvest means around 6–7 million kilos of apples. According to him, the amount is in line with last year’s harvest.
“Production has increased somewhat, if you compare it to ten years ago. The most popular varieties are Lobo and rubinola, especially the latter has grown in popularity”, mentions Rahkonen.
The vice president rated the quality of the harvest as good. The weather has been good for apples, because there were a lot of pollinators on the move in early summer and the rains that fell in June were important for growth. According to him, the apples can therefore be tastier and bigger compared to the last harvest season.
The union a berry grower acting as chairman Tarja Matomäki is more pessimistic in his speech. He commented to STT that the current year’s conditions have been challenging.
“First we went from full winter to full summer, and then from a dry period to a rainy one. Open-field strawberries also suffer from winter damage to such an extent that there was even a slight shortage of strawberries in the July season, Matomäki mentions. According to him, the quality and size of the harvest have varied with the change in weather conditions.”
The chairman states that the financial situation is difficult in many companies in the industry due to the difficult year. However, the blackcurrant and bush blueberry harvest looks promising. However, the raspberry harvest remains normal, he has no information about the gooseberry harvest or the amount of hundreds of kilograms.
“70 percent of the raspberry kilos come from seasonal tunnels, and they are not as significantly affected by winter damage,” says Matomäki.
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