Apples and blueberries have done well, but garlic and onion yields are lower this year than in other years. However, farmers say that the main crops will be sufficient for the local market.
Jānis Bērziņš, head of the Latvian Gardener's Association, said that this year the harvest for large crops will be even a third smaller than average. "It can still depend on October. It's very bad for onions and garlic, where the spring cold delayed and then the drought. The second is diseases. This year [the vegetables] don't want to be stored."
The climate has been very contrasting for the vegetation this year, with both drought and later 30 degrees, which did not encourage plant growth. Then there were heavy rains at the end of July, which in turn affected how the produce would be stored, Bērziņš said:
"Potatoes have a problem of how they will store. But it all depends on where and how much it rained. Some places have drowned/ It all depends on where and how much it rained and how quickly the moisture went away. Then there was the heat, which contributed to the rotting."
Bērziņš estimated that, despite the problems, there should be enough vegetables for the local market - if only traders would take the produce of local farmers.
It is harvest time now, but local beetroot, cabbage or carrots, for example, are not available everywhere.
Raivis Bahšteins, Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Organic Farming Association, also said that vegetable yields vary from region to region:
"Vegetable growers say that the year is average and the quality of the harvest also varies. If we look at Latvia, it has been too dry in some places and too wet in others. However, the long summer has been good for smaller crops, such as Brussels sprouts, which are now being harvested, or sweet potatoes grown under cover, which have good yields. This year, cabbages have produced a respectable weight. Some farmers say they have grown a head weighing 5 kg. But in some places the potato fields suffered, the onions didn't like the floods, and the legumes suffered."
At the same time, a large proportion of organic apple orchards have a good quality crop this year, and neither the frosts nor the hail have affected the apple harvest, whereas last year the frosts in many places wiped out almost the entire crop.
Fruit growers are already filling their warehouses with the new crop and it is already available in the shops.
Blueberry growers have also had a good harvest this year, despite frosts in some places, explained Māra Rudzāte, head of the Latvian Fruit Growers Association:
"Some farms with frost protection survived. But overall, the blueberry harvest this year was very abundant on both large and small acreages. And the price was reasonable."
The only problem for blueberry farms was the lack of berry pickers. Consequently, for example, on the Arosa R farm, about 25-30 percent of the harvest remained in the field. Māra Rudzāte called on the authorities to address this problem, as the shortage of workers was increasing.
