Spain: La Mancha saffron faces the harvest with better prospects than in previous years

The Regulatory Council of the Saffron Designation of Origin of La Mancha faces the 2024 campaign, which could begin next week, with better prospects than in previous years since the weather, for the moment, is being favorable. Despite the critical moment that the crop is going through, seriously affected by the drastic drop in production last year, when 280.81 kilos were harvested, the lowest figure in the last eleven years and 40.24% less than that of the 2022 harvest, the feeling among farmers, for the moment, is more positive. The spring rains, the mild temperatures of the month of June, together with a cooler autumn with somewhat more rainfall, have lifted the spirits among a sector that, however, continues to suffer from historical structural problems such as the absence of a certified corm market; the minimal mechanization of the processes; the lack of generational replacement and the high demand for labour, greatly aggravated in recent years by climate change. Problems that ...