Walnuts: weather remains the main challenge
August 18, 2017 at 7:39 AM ,
Starry Night Ltd.
SOFIA. Local farmers are already receiving order requests from foreign buyers. Yet, they are reluctant to currently cite a concrete price before the crop has been collected.
Walnuts: rains are a blessing right now
By now, it is well known that those farmers who did fare well during the heavy storms will reap a much stronger harvest than they do during a normal year. From now on, it is again the weather factor that will define the quality of the crop. The dry weather could stifle the crop and just before harvest, some trees could carry walnuts that are empty inside. However, the recent showers, which fell throughout the West regions of the country over the past weekend, provided the necessary rain respite in the midst of the heatwaves. In regions where rains are mild, farmers complain that the husk has already turned yellow much earlier in the season because of the higher than usual average temperatures.
Because of the impact of such agro-meteorological factors, some farmers will start collecting the crop sooner. In other regions, depending on the variety of the walnuts, harvest will start either in the beginning or later in September. Anyhow, those farmers, whose trees are heavy of walnuts, will collect a much stronger output. Soon the sky will clear for the results to appear.
Price expectations
Farmers do not need to withhold the crop from the market to influence prices since the carry-over is zero. Prices are expected to start high!
Caution to foreign buyers who buy organic: request more than an organic certificate!