VdF publishes harvest estimate 2021 - Fruchtsaftindustrie rechnet mit einer schwachen Streuobsternte von 300.000 Tonnen
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The fruit crop estimate for 2021 has been completed. The German Fruit Juice Industry Association (VdF) expects a weak litter fruit harvest of about 300,000 tons nationwide in the fall. "This year, the low temperatures and a lot of wetness during the flowering period have affected the orchard stands," said Klaus Heitlinger, managing director of the VdF. "As a result of the increasing weakening of the trees in recent years, they are unfortunately also more susceptible to diseases, so that overall we must assume that the yield potential of orchard meadows will continue to decline," is Heitlinger's assessment.
Climate stress and overaged tree populations
The spring of 2021 particularly disrupted the flowering period of medium-early apple varieties in orchard meadows with low temperatures and a lot of wetness. Early and late apple varieties were not affected to the same degree. However, the trees in the meadow orchards have been under enormous climatic stress for several years: late night frosts at flowering time, persistent hot spells in the summer months, and overall far too little precipitation. In particular, the lack of precipitation and the associated drought stress has increasingly weakened the trees and made them more susceptible to diseases such as black bark blight, a fungal disease that causes black spots on the tree bark and, in the worst case, causes the trees to die. Another consequence is increased mistletoe infestation in trees, which is particularly pronounced this year.
To make matters worse, many orchard stands are over-aged or no longer maintained and managed. This also affects yields and is increasingly becoming a problem for fruit juice producers. This means that not only valuable raw materials for juice production are missing, but also the special taste of the many old fruit species in the meadow orchards.
