The 3,120 hours of sunshine in the province of Huelva have worked a miracle. In these early stages of the strawberry season, some growers, whose farms are located in areas further south of the province, have already started harvesting the fruit, although in terms of volume the figures are still very small.
These plantations are located in the municipalities of Palos de la Frontera and Moguer, where the Fortuna variety is grown; a strawberry characterised by its productive precocity. The strategy of these growers has been simply to stagger the production and adapt it to the needs of the market, or what is the same: to consumer demand.
The start of the campaign will often determine whether the companies involved will have a positive campaign, since at this time the production is very small and prices are usually much higher than in mid-spring. Consequently, profitability is much higher, while the fixed costs of labour, handling and transportation are not affected. In any case, the main fear in the industry is that demand does not take off for issues beyond their control, such as consumer trends.
The president of the Platform in Defence of Irrigated Crops, Cristóbal Picón, pointed out that the warm temperatures in the area have been crucial in allowing growers to start harvesting the fruit early and stressed that abundant rainfall was recorded in the province "during the planting," without the kind of winds which can hurt the plant.
This is also corroborated by the president of the cooperative Cuna de Platero, José Manuel Márquez, who stated that as long as the weather remains an ally, next week or by the end of the month they will start harvesting the first batches of fruit. This cooperative has kept the acreage devoted to strawberry cultivation at the same level as last year.
Organic strawberries will have to wait a few more weeks compared with those from intensive cultivation. José María Rodríguez, head of Flor de Doñana, set the starting date at "the first half of December, when the harvesting will kick off," as long as the weather and hours of sunshine remain stable, given that, on the road to Christmas, temperatures will inevitably continue to fall.
Source: huelvainformacion.es