Hail has struck an important apple and pear growing region in Argentina.
The storm struck in the Alto Valle region of Rio Negro province over the weekend. Alto Valle is known for growing a number of crops across the 80,000ha of the region and the hail swept across a swathe of some 8,000ha.
Daniel Satragni, an agronomist at CAFI, the Argentinean fruit-growers’ association, said: “We have to look at what fruit production there is in that area and what might be affected. So far, it has been calculated about 60 per cent of those 8,000ha were affected.
'Alto Valle is the biggest production region for apples and pears in Argentina. Fortunately, the pear harvest was almost completely gathered in by the time the hail struck. Some 70,000 tonnes of apples are believed to have been affected, but that is out of a total Argentinean crop of roughly one million tonnes.”
Of these apples the majority are Red Delicious destined for the Brazilian and domestic markets as the harvest of Gala was already complete, Satragni said. “We will have a clearer picture next week of the exact impact of the hail,” he added. “But at the moment, the major impact seems to be social rather than commercial as production in Alto Valle is predominantly in the hands of small and medium-sized producers and communities are reliant on fruit production in the area.”
