2024-04-05 15:47:00
Entered 2024.04.05 18:28 Modified 2024.04.06 00:47 Ground A20
Visit to Chungju Apple Orchard
Orchard farmers worried regarding harvest failure once more
It looks like there will be a gold apology in the second half of this year as well.“It rained a lot last year and the flowers were poor.
“If we pick apples, we’ll send them to the jam factory.”They say the government provides unlimited support
Farmers: “There is no benefit to us.”
“At best, the apples hanging here will go to the jam factory.”
On the 3rd, Kim Seung-seop (71), whom I met at an apple farm in Shinni-myeon, Chungju-si, North Chungcheong Province, was asked, ‘How is this year’s crop?’ He pointed to the apple blossoms hanging weakly on the trees and sighed. Mr. Kim said, “Because it rained so much last year, the apple blossoms this year are generally poor,” and worried, “I think there will only be a lot of apples that are difficult to sell in the market.” Apple farmers, whose crops were ruined last year due to abnormal weather conditions such as cold weather and hail, are anxious that their harvest will be poor this year due to the heavy rainfall.
Although the government is pouring out various measures to stabilize market prices, farmers are concerned that this year’s apple production will not be much different from last year, when there was an unprecedented poor harvest. It was predicted that stabilizing apple prices would not be easy.
Mr. Kim runs a small to medium-sized apple farm of 1,160㎡ in Chungju. When I entered the orchard, I saw apple blossoms hanging from the tips of thin branches on the apple trees lined up in a row. Mr. Kim said that the number of flowers blooming on each branch is half of the average number (eight). There were many flowers that looked like they would pop and fall if you just touched them with your hand. Farmers usually carry out red-fruiting (the process of thinning out apples) from May to June, leaving only regarding 10 apples per branch. This is because if all the apples are left alone, apples smaller than eggs will come out. Mr. Kim confessed, “If things continue this way, there may not be a need for red-light work this year.” The apple blossoms are so poor that it is expected that fewer apples will be produced than usual. The reason farming is like this is because of the excessive rain last year.
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration on the 5th, last year’s rainfall in Chungju, a representative apple producing area, was 1,661.6 mm, the highest since 2011 (2,073.3 mm). As tree roots absorbed moisture absorbed into the soil, branches grew excessively and nutrients for flowers became insufficient. To make matters worse, cloudy weather continued from January to March this year, and the amount of sunlight decreased. Mr. Kim said, “I am afraid that this year’s apple crop will be as bad as last year.”
Apple farmers predict that wholesale prices will remain high this year as apple production decreases like last year. It is pointed out that the problem is that government support is focused only on large retailers and not on front-line farmers. However, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs predicts that apple farming will be smooth this year. This is because no natural disasters such as cold damage have occurred so far and the flowering period has been delayed. An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said, “In the field, we are actually predicting a ‘good harvest’ this year. There may be differences for each farm, but overall, the crop is not expected to be as sluggish as previous years.”
Chungju = Reporter Lee Gwang-sik [email protected]
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