Fruit harvest worst in decades

The heavy rains and flooding that plagued much of the country in the spring and summer are continuing to wreak havoc on fruit producers, who are reporting near-record-low yields for 2010.

Fruit production across the country is down almost 32 percent from 2009, and growers are fearful that another below-average year in 2011 could begin to significantly cut into their bottom lines.

"This is the worst harvest I have experienced in my career," said Martin Ludvík, chairman of the Czech Fruit Growers Association (OUČR), which is based in Hořice, east Bohemia. "This has been the lowest of the past 20 years."

According to the OUČR, the country produced only 121,019 tons of fruit in 2010, down from 178,090 tons in 2009 and a five-year high of 190,955 tons in 2006. Ludvík said the worst harvest he remembered was 116,000 tons in 1990.

While heavy rain in May and flooding in June and July were clear factors in the poor harvest, less obvious factors, Ludvík said, include the low activity of bees - which affected blossom pollination - and a season-long bout with parasitic mushrooms, which attack and burn blossoms of stone fruits such as plums, apricots, peaches and cherries.

Apricots fared the worst in 2010 as they are most sensitive to volatile weather conditions, and fruits grown in north and central Moravia suffered the most as growers in those regions saw a drop of about 25 percent. In east Bohemia, yields dropped only 10 percent.

Ludvík said producers who suffered losses of 50 percent or more of their crop will have to tighten their belts in 2011 and hope for a rebound.

"They will have to stop investing in new technologies and renewal of their orchards," he said. "I don't think that after one year anyone is going to go bankrupt, but if the upcoming season is similar, that danger will be there."

On Jan. 12, the Agriculture Ministry announced it was accepting applications for nearly 80 million Kč ($4.5 million) in subsidies in an attempt to mitigate the damage felt by the farmers most affected by the devastating spring weather.

How will the low yield affect the consumer? At first, not much.

Ludvík said the country will likely have to import about 30,000 tons of apples from Italy, which may result in a small uptick at the cash register, but otherwise, most producers will be able to keep their prices the same as previous years.

And hefty reserves kept by producers of fruit-based products such as slivovice and jams will keep those prices roughly the same as usual - for now.

A spokeswoman for R. Jelínek, the country's largest commercial producer of slivovice, told The Prague Post the company will be able to keep prices stable thanks to reserves they've stockpiled from fruit purchased from 10 other countries in addition to the Czech Republic. But that could change if their largest fruit supplier suffers another below-average year.

"We do not expect significant increases in prices due to last season's crop failure," said Hana Holubová, R. Jelínek's marketing manager, "But if this poor crop is repeated, we will have to increase prices."

While it's still early to predict what 2011 might hold for producers, Ludvík said he's holding his breath that the recent balmy temperatures enjoyed throughout the country will be long gone come February.

"These temperature increases don't matter right now, but if it happens again, apricots and cherries will already be endangered," he said.

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Klára Jiřičná can be reached at
kjiricna@praguepost.com