A hailstorm that struck Concordia at the end of last week has wiped out more than 2,000 tonnes of the region’s blueberry harvest.
Juan Scordia of the Association of Mesopotamian Blueberry Producers (APAMA) said up to 50 per cent of the crop was destroyed in 20 minutes.
“Harvesting had only just started and around 90 per cent of the fruit was still on the trees,” he told Analisis Digital.
Yuquerí, where 27 per cent of the region’s production is located, was worst hit, with Villa Zorraquin, Osvaldo Magnasco and Colonia Roca also suffering significant losses.
The latest damage comes on top of the 1,000 tonnes of fruit lost in last month’s freeze, leading to warnings from APAMA that very little export grade fruit will be available in 2013/14. Scordia said up to 2,000 jobs were expected to be lost as a result of the storm.
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