Russia – Children won’t know what fruit looks like

By Robert On February 19, 2012 · 3 Comments

“Unusual Cold Threatens Russian Fruit Crop,” headlines this article on Radio Free Europe – Radio Liberty.

Up to 70 percent of fruit from orchards may be lost in Astrakhan, north of the Caspian Sea.

Elsewhere, the problem is much the same.

In Daghestan, an emergency situation has been declared for the fields and vineyards in the area around the provincial capital, Makhachkala, and 11 other districts.

Daghestani Deputy Minister of Agriculture Bashir Baytemirov called it a “catastrophe” and said damage to the harvest would be measured in the billions of rubles.

In Saratov Kray, where temperatures have dropped to as low as -35 Celsius, First Deputy Minister of Agriculture Anatoly Kutsenko said only about half of the country’s grapevines are sheltered by protective earthen barriers.

“Those parts of the grapevines that are above the earthen barriers could perish,” he said.

“As concerns apples and plums, it should be expected 10 to 30 percent of them will die off,” said Yevgeny Kritsky, head of the horticulture and viticulture department n Krasnodar Kray, located on the Black and Azov Seas.

See entire article:
http://www.rferl.org/content/russia_crop_fruit_cold_environment/24481121.html

Thanks to Marc Morano for these links

Kudos to Tom Nelson for the title

3 Responses to Russia – Children won’t know what fruit looks like

John Knowles says:

February 19, 2012 at 3:57 pm

Interesting to note that the extreme cold and LACK of snow is the problem here. Normally they rely on an insulative layer of snow to protect the ground from excessive heat loss. The snow would also provide moisture in the spring.
Laurel says:

February 20, 2012 at 3:58 am

yes, my russian friend was saying the same, damn cold but dry with less snow than is usual, that wind patterns moved the damp air a fair bit.
C. Peter Davis says:

February 20, 2012 at 2:05 pm

First it was the floods in Manitoba and Sakatchewan. Now, it is a strangely mild winter with drought. We had an unusually dry summer and fall and this winter the ground is barely covered by snow. If this continues, there will be massive crop losses throughout the grain belt (prairies) of Canada.