A decline in production this year was expected, after the historically good last year. But the summer was far from ideal for the fruit and berry farmers in Vestland, and the failure was stronger than expected. Especially for those with plum trees. The forecast of 566 tonnes is a halving of last year’s production at Vestanfjell. The failure will probably be even greater. Fruit farmer Eyvind Reme’s tree in Innvik is not overflowing with plums. – It was too cold. The bees have not been able to do their job properly, sighs fruit farmer Eyvind Reme in Innvik, he notes. Photo: Harald Kolseth / news It’s bad news for those who enjoy Norwegian, juicy plums. – It doesn’t look good, but it varies from field to field and place in the field. Down by the sea there is quite a bit, while at higher altitudes there is much less, says Eyvind Reme about his fields with nearly 8,000 plum trees in Innvik. Unable to meet demand Good growing conditions and newly cultivated fields struck last year, resulting in 1,800 tonnes of plums nationwide. This year, therefore, the soga is completely different this year. At Innvik Fruktlager they expected to pack 250 tonnes of plums. Now they amount to around 80 tonnes. Photo: Steinar Lote / news Gartnerhallen is Norway’s largest supplier of Norwegian fruit, berries, vegetables and potatoes. They have around 75 per cent of the total market for plums, and distributed 1,400 tonnes last year. Culture manager Knut Amund Surlien says the forecasts this year are about 750 tonnes. In other words, they are simply unable to meet demand. – So far we have a coverage rate of between 20 and 25 per cent of the demand in stores. It is quite low so far in the season, he says. In other words, everyone can’t get – all the time. It will probably be tougher to prioritize which market gets plums. – With this year’s production, we are unable to meet demand. Maybe we can do it during the peak week in ten days, says Knut Amund Surlien in Gartnerhallen. Photo: Fredrik Laland Ekeli / news Less visible – The plums are becoming less visible, it is becoming more difficult to find plums everywhere. It is not prudent to distribute such a small volume to all nooks and crannies in Norway. – We hope for good coverage of the country for a couple of weeks, he adds. On a national basis, the forecasts say about 1,100 plums. This means that the foreigners saved a lot of the plum harvest. – We see this year that the area around Lier and Svelvik has almost as much production as Vestland county. It is very unusual, says Surlien. Overall, Blomstringa in Vestland started well, but then things went awry. This is according to Leif Øie, fruit warehouse inspector in the GrøntProdusentenes Samarbeidsråd. – The season had improved with good pollination. But it was cool, so the bees had bad working conditions. At Hardanger Fjordfrukt, farm manager Liv Sollesnes expected far more work with plums than they have received. It is still far down to 38 tonnes in the year 2020. – Last year we had 500 tonnes. We have so far packed around 30 tonnes, and expect to end up with around 100 tonnes. Daily manager, Anita Roset, at Innvik Fruktlager Photo: Harald Kolseth / news Crop failure comes with a number of negative ripple effects. Poorer income for the farmer, fewer hands in the swing and less on offer. – It is hard for the economy both for producers and packers. It’s not a good situation to be in, says Anita Roset, day-to-day manager at Innvik Fruktlager. – Do they get the price? – That is a good question. I doubt that one will be able to recover the entire loss. There is too little to trade on, but there will be a price increase.
ttn-69