Good morning!
I hope you had a good weekend. Here, it's a brief break and then back to work. With the heat approaching, we can't stop; we have to keep going with the harvests and shipments. As you know, high temperatures don't help with product preservation, especially when they're artisanally grown like ours.
But we're not just facing the heat here in the field. Working at nature's pace is very satisfying, but it also has a tough side. Sometimes, for example, too much sun "irons" some fruits, a frost can wipe out an entire production, excessive rain... Ugh, that really wreaks havoc. And that's what I want to talk to you about today.
But first, I'll take this opportunity to inform you: we have a new cherry harvest 🍒 and they are spectacular. To be honest, we had a setback with one of the harvests; there was a problem with (precisely) excessive humidity, which caused many to spoil. Fortunately, after a huge effort, Alexander and Sujan were able to harvest cherries again that are a true delight.
And imagine, it's not just that the cherries weren't arriving well, but also responding to and solving the problem with each of our customers. It's been a tough week, but this new cherry harvest has the quality we're used to...
Today, from the experience of having my boots full of mud, I want to tell you how prolonged rainstorms affect us. I'm sure reading this will help you understand a little more about what goes into every fruit and vegetable you take home.
When it rains, at first we're happy. Water is life, but when the rain is too generous, and it's accompanied by days without a speck of sunshine, problems begin.
Think about this: every plant needs a balance of water, oxygen, and sunlight to grow. If a storm leaves the soil waterlogged for several days, this balance I'm talking about is broken.
First comes what we call root asphyxiation: roots need oxygen, and when the soil is saturated with water, that oxygen disappears. Imagine a plant "breathing" through that area. If oxygen doesn't reach them, the roots get stressed, then they rot, and depending on the crop, it may never recover.
It's what I feared would happen in my fields when the DANA passed through Valencia (known here as "la gota fría"). Luckily, the trees in my fields didn't suffer from root asphyxiation, and to this day, we continue to harvest oranges:
The truth is that most crops suffer from excess humidity. For example, large, tender leafy vegetables, like lettuce or spinach, don't tolerate it. Water accumulates on their leaves, and they start to rot from the veins.
I don't know if you remember, but at some point, I mentioned that in Javi's romaine lettuce fields 🥬, they were waiting for the west wind to dry the leaves... It was precisely because of the excess humidity.
Tomatoes, zucchini, and peppers are also sensitive because their roots can't withstand waterlogged soil for long, and if fungi start to develop, the entire plant is lost.
Potatoes and carrots, which grow underground, also suffer because they absorb too much water, and what should be firm and crisp turns soft. Anyway, I won't list what happens with every vegetable and fruit because then I'd be here until tomorrow 😂, but it's just so you know.
But I will tell you one more thing... If you add days without sun, with constant clouds, another problem increases: the plant cannot photosynthesize properly.
And we, the farmers, have to juggle. Checking that the fields drain well, picking up fallen fruit to prevent fungus from contaminating everything, waiting and praying for the weather to change. Sometimes we even have to decide to lose a part to save the rest.
With all this, what I want to tell you is not just a problem in the field. It's that when something like what happened with the cherries occurs, remember that it's not carelessness. It's nature presenting us with a new challenge.
However, at Campos del Abuelo, we continue against all odds, because if agriculture is anything, it's that we don't give up easily.
Thanks for being on the other side, see you next week.
A big hug from the field!
