Cherry growers from Brda were relieved that their cherries in bloom were not affected by this year's frost. But their satisfaction lasted only until the recent rain, which destroyed up to one half of the yield of those growers who had not picked fruit of the early species. Also some late varieties had unfavourable conditions for growth, and consequently this year's harvest will be much smaller than expected.

Last year the yield of cherries in Brda was above average, but this year the situation is different. Radovan Jelina from the Association of Fruit Growers from Brda said that the rain caused a lot of damage to the early variety of cherries: "In the last fortnight there was a lot of rain, 150 millilitres per square metre, which is a lot, and it had detrimental consequences for cherries. The fruit on all the early varieties of cherries which had been left on trees cracked and rotted. Up to 50%, in some places even more harvest was ruined."

Not even later varieties were spared, Jelina claims: "After cherries shed their blossoms, the growers realized that also late varieties will give much lower yield – it is the Napolen variety, the most frequent in Brda."

The farmers from Brda are not only upset because of the low yield, but also by the practice of some of the locals. Approximately ten farms trade with cherries - they buy them from large Italian or Spanish markets, and sell them in Slovenia as cherries from Brda.

"We know those people, and so does the inspection, but there are no measures against it. We went to the Ministry and exposed the problem. They promised to find a solution. We proposed that only farmers could sell along the roads; in this manner a certain percent of the traders would be excluded. In Croatia such a measure was adopted, and it stuck."

In spite of the fact that the harvest in Brda is not abundant this year, the growers claim the quality is even better. This year cherries from Brda sell at 5 euros.

N. U. (RA Koper), translated by G. K.