Stone fruit production in Latvia - Cost 873

History of fruit and berry growing in LatviaBefore the 2nd World War, successful development began in fruit growing:fruit and berry export was started.Collectivization and nationalization of farms interrupted this process. Largeextensive orchards were planted for the needs of the processing industry, so theareas of orchards and brutto yield increased rapidly at first. This process was spedup by the fast growth in the numbers of home garden owners. Yet the quality ofproduction was lacking.After the renewal of independence of Latvia in 1991, when the agriculturalreform was started, many large-sized orchards were split up and returned to theprevious landowners.A large number of rather small (10 to 20 hectares) farms were formed as aresult of the agricultural reform.Many have already recognized horticulture as one of the ways of successfuldevelopment.The importance of home gardening is decreasing. In fresh berry market,commercial production is already dominating, while commercial production ofpome and stone fruits still cannot meet the demand