Heavy rainfall that brought flooding to parts of Spain last week is proving a mixed blessing to different crops.
Some of the early citrus varieties such as Okitsu took on too much water and have fallen from trees. Julien Taratay of exporter Agriveg said: “All in all, citrus was hardest hit in terms of losses and the rainfall was very heavy in the big production areas of Valencia and Alicante. There was an impact on vegetable production too and the harvest for broccoli, for example was interrupted. But if it had to rain that heavily, it is better than it came when it did rather than in three weeks time when the harvest for a whole lot of lines such as all the other brassicas and lettuce could have been in full swing.”
Grower organisations said in a statement that September rainfall had gone from being welcome to bulk up some easy-peelers, to causing the loss of as much as 50,000 tonnes of persimmon and citrus.
