Farming’s most difficult season

This is arguably one of deciduous-fruit farming’s most difficult seasons. By Hugh Campbell.

Exports on almost all crops are down, and many technical experts agree that things have not been easy. To get a broader perspective on the past season, I spoke to various pome- and stone-fruit-industry professionals, and it was clear — every region had their own set of problems. And the drought is adding fuel to the fire.

When asked to summarise the past season, each answer depended on the crop, region, harvest time, and water availability — which often differed between farms within one region.

To start, let’s reflect on the projected export estimates:

Table 1 Estimated export cartons for 2017/18 season

Source: Hortgro Stone Fruit Inspection and Estimate Week 39–16 (2017/18) / Hortgro Pome Fruit Inspection and Estimate Week 17 (2018)

Fruit Type	2016/17	2017/18	%
Plums	12 349 114	10 221 404	-17%
Nectarines	4 122 833	4 216 705	2%
Peaches	2 169 010	2 158 845	0%
Apricots	774 240	723 196	-7%
Apples	33 423 558	29 947 357	-10%
Pears	17 473 384	16 162 754	-8%
Total	70 312 139	63 430 261	-10%

Stone’s heavy load

According to the figures, plums are the fruit type that took the hardest knock.

Charl Stander, head of technical and quality at Freshness First, says this was one of the most challenging seasons in his 30-year career. “The climate had not only an impact on the crop but also on the logistics and marketing as the wind prohibited ships from being loaded. Almost the entire apricot crop went onto two ships.”

Karin van Rensburg, technical manager at In2Stone, concurred with this major issue with shipping — which resulted in a 22% increase in the quantity of nectarines being flown out this season.

Stander reckons that a combination of climatic elements impacted the volume of exported plums.

First, he says, while growers are diligently managing limited water caused by the drought, less water still meant smaller fruit. On average, the industry was down one count, but there was good fruit colour and higher sugars.

Second, a relentless wind in major plum production areas impacted the external quality of plums and reduced pack outs.

Third, five prolonged heat waves affected the post-harvest internal quality of later plums — Laetitia in particular. While there was no evidence of internal browning at harvest, or even two weeks thereafter, it manifested three weeks later. Orchards without an appropriate moisture-profile buffer suffered the most.

And lastly, hail struck three times. The first time caused the most damage and was just after fruit set. This was followed by hail occurrences in December and late February.

Peach and nectarine volumes were up due to a significant number of new orchards which came into bearing. Van Rensburg indicated that In2Stone’s peach and nectarine pack outs increased for the early-season cultivars. This was due to the dry weather.

While the wind didn’t have a significant impact on the external quality of peaches and nectarines, fruit size was an issue. As the heat waves impacted harvest maturity, the fruit dropped one count size yet again.

According to Pierre Rossouw from Stems, the pack out of later nectarines — mostly from the Warm Bokkeveld — was slightly down. He speculated that this was due to early frost damage.

Pome’s prize and predicament

The pear crop in major pear-production areas remains normal — with fruit size down one count in some areas. A highlight however is the significant improvement of fruit quality.

Wolfpack’s Christo Strydom remarked that their export pack out increased with cleaner fruit because of less wind and excellent colour on the blush varieties. Indications are that the internal quality is good, with few indications of progressive defects. Water management has been challenging, but Strydom said he hasn’t seen many “swaarkrybome” in the region.

Hammies Hamman from Ceres Fruit Growers noted that lessons learnt from the previous year’s drought enabled growers to optimise their available water, and this knowledge carried them through a difficult season.

Interestingly, Hamman indicated that the ratio of fruit weight to fruit diameter is down on Forelle pears, implying that the fruit are lighter — possibly due to fewer cells being formed during cell division.

Apples are projected to be 10% down from last year. Fruit size remains a challenge in most water-stressed areas (one count size down), but so far fruit colour is excellent in most of the production areas.

Fruitways’ Keith Bradley stated that the cold snap came at just the right time. In the Grabouw region they expect some of the best pack outs on their pink varieties. On the downside however, bitterpit has reared its head in the water-stressed orchards with cultivars prone to this disorder — Bradley surmises this is due to a lower uptake of calcium.

Bruising has also been a challenge this year as less cell division equals fewer cells with thinner walls. In the Langkloof and other regions, hail has impacted the commercial production with certain farms being struck.

This hasn’t been an easy season! But all is not lost.

It is perceived that next season holds much optimism. This is based on the current climatic conditions and a projected normal winter — and is also the case for most regions that aren’t linked into irrigation schemes that share water with the city.

As a last thought, Hamman shared insights into managing trees in a drought situation.

First, give the tree its required amount of water up to the end of cell division, and then again during the last five weeks before harvest.

Second, if you need to cut water do it during the middle phase (i.e. between the end of cell division and five weeks before harvest).

Third, if you cannot apply 60% of a tree’s water requirement during a season, rather remove the fruit as you will struggle to produce a marketable crop from those trees.

Fourth, thin your trees as early as possible.

Fifth, for the bitterpit-prone varieties don’t over-thin. You could end up oversized fruit which can lead to bitterpit.

Sixth, mulch.

Fingers-crossed we summon the rain.