Spain’s Murcia region has revealed its confidence that a “good production” of early cherries can be achieved by growers in the area with as little as 3,000 cu m2 per hectare.
During a visit to the Campotéjar experimental orchard near the town of Molina de Segura, Murcia’s director of farming modernisation and agricultural training, ángel García Lidón, said good early production could be achieved by using rain water reserves during the autumn and winter.
Despite being planted in stony ground, the director said in a statement that they had successfully grown 16 different cherry varieties at the site over the past three years.
Murcian growers the Carrión Guardiola brothers have already begun producing early cherries under glass in their farm in Jumilla, with the site capable of delivering 400 kilos of fruit to markets up to a month earlier than the main Spanish season.
According to information from Murcia’s regional government, prices for the farm’s cherries achieved prices averaging €20 per kilo last year.
