Fresh Apple insights

An emergency on-site inspection meeting for fire blight was held on the morning of the 4th at the Chungnam Cheongyang-gun Agricultural Technology Center. Previously, fire blight was confirmed on a 0.2ha apple farm in Cheongyang on the 2nd. According to the Rural Development Administration, this is the first occurrence of fire blight in Cheongyang. The meeting on the 4th was presided over by Kwon Chul-hee, Director of Rural Support Bureau, and was attended by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Quarantine Service, Chungnam Provincial Agricultural Technology Institute, and Cheongyang-gun Agricultural Technology Center. Participants shared the current situation and discussed measures to strengthen monitoring and education. Director Kwon stated, "Strengthen monitoring focused on apple production areas and ensure infected trees are buried quickly" and "Intensify farmer education on agricultural tool disinfection and orchard loss compensation." Meanwhile, according to the Rural Development Administration, fire blight has occurred in 59 farms covering 21.3 hectares as of the 4th. Compared to the same period last year, this represents 76% of farms and 50% of area. Affected areas include 6 locations in Gyeonggi, 3 in Gangwon, 7 in Chungbuk, 2 in Chungnam, and 1 in Jeonbuk, totaling 19 cities and counties. Jeong Seong-hwan, Reporter sss@nongmin.com

Hapcheon Yulgok Agricultural Cooperative (Chairman Kang Ho-yun) successfully held an "Apple Watermelon Tasting Event" on May 20th at the Hanaromart Yangjae Branch in Seocho-gu, Seoul. This event was organized to widely promote the excellent quality of apple watermelons, a representative agricultural product of Hapcheon County, and to expand contact points with metropolitan consumers to secure a stable sales channel. Attending the event were key figures including Kang Ho-yun, Chairman of Yulgok Agricultural Cooperative; Jang Mun-chul, CEO of Hapcheon Distribution; Lee Dong-geun, CEO of Agricultural Cooperative Distribution; Choi Young-seop, Branch Manager of Hanaromart Yangjae Branch; Yoon Mi-young, Director of Agricultural Distribution for Hapcheon County; Kang Chul-hoon, Representative of Hanul Farming Corporation; and Jo Seong-su, Chairman of the Apple Watermelon Crop Association, who all graced the occasion.

Some of the Polish varieties will have lower availability as a result of the frosts that occurred last month, says Mohamed Marawan, owner of Polish apple exporter Sarafruit: "The weather over the past month has impacted the Polish production for the new apple season, but not for all of the varieties. The cold weather reached