Over the weekend, rain and hail were recorded in various areas of Chile (such as Santiago, Curicó and Linares), affecting Chilean fruit, but especially cherries.
Javier Contesse, general manager of Alegría Foods, told PortalFruticola.com that the situation is difficult to quantify since the rainfall was quite localized; for example, in Requínoa it was raining and hailing, while in other areas there was no precipitation.
“In several fields, the fruit fell from the trees, which generated losses of 50% or 100%. The hardest-hit fields are being assessed; what is certain is that in places where the fruit already had color and size and where 5 millimeters of rain fell, there are losses. The most affected fruits were cherries and, to a lesser extent, blueberries,” says Contesse.
Mario Gaete, founder of trading company Don Germán and Sociedad Agrícola Gaete y Fischer, located in Linares, says he will suffer losses of 15% to 20% in cherry production due to the bruising caused by the rains.
Along the same lines, Lorena Pinto, Head of Pome Fruit and Cherry Products at ANA Chile, explains that the danger of the hail is that it struck the fruit and damaged it severely. The impact of the rain will vary depending on the rain protection systems each field has. And in Chile there are many growers without covers and without orchard drying systems. “There are also lucky ones. Some people were spared — no rain fell on them,” she says.
In areas such as Colbún and Rosario, the weather event was not recorded. Mauricio Larraín, an independent agricultural advisor; Sebastián Mejías, of Santa Elisa cherries, located in Colbún; and Raúl Campaña, founder of the family business Chamoneta, located in Rosario, state that their crops suffered no losses.
As for official data and damage estimates, both the Cherry Committee and the Blueberry Committee of the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX) will release their figures in the coming days. Meanwhile, the National Federation of Fruit Producers (Fedefruta) is working on a survey for growers on harvest damage following the November rains and hail.
Crop protection
In Chile, rain and hail during seasons such as spring and summer are increasingly common. One example of this was the rainfall recorded in February 2021, which caused losses for table grape growers.
Joaquín Pávez, a member of Anasac Chile and a grower himself, explains that it is urgent for growers to consider crop protection during these months, especially for cherries. “The fruit needs to be protected not only from frost but also from potential weather events,” he warns.
Lorena Pinto explains that in Chile there is no tradition of dealing with these phenomena, and anti-hail netting is not used as it is in Europe. Along the same lines, Mario Gaete says he has no netting, since frost is the most common threat, for which he relies on frost-control fans.
Source: Portal Fruticola
