Weather adversities negativelly impacted stone fruit crops. Cherry is the most suffered.

According to the INE report, agricultural forecasts on May 31st point to a bad campaign for stone fruits, particularly cherry, where a 60% decrease in unit yield is expected compared to 2019.

The peach also saw a 20% drop in productivity compared to the previous season and it is expected to be around 9.1 tonnes per hectare. The heavy precipitation at the end of May worsened the scenario that already pointed to the decrease in productivity due to the atypical weather conditions of April.

In the case of the cherry, as it is particularly sensitive to weather conditions, productivity was affected as soon as on March 31st, in the middle of the flowering / pollination phase, snowfall occurred in one of the main production areas (Cova da Beira), which compromised the fruits due to poor pollination and cleanliness of the flower, but without significantly affecting the early varieties, which were already in earlier stages.

However, the low temperatures, the formation of frost and the intense precipitation of the first half of April, caused great damage in these varieties. And much of the production is cracked or without preservation power, losing commercial interest.