Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on apple orchards in Europe

CONTEXT: The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has affected global agricultural chains and intensified the issue of food insecurity worldwide. OBJECTIVE: We propose a short retrospective of the reported effects of the COVID-19 pandemic from its beginning in March 2020 in Europe, on orchard management and harvest, sales and agricultural chains, monitoring and research in orchards, and we expose some of the solutions undertaken to tackle down these issues. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: In Europe, the fruit and vegetable sector has been affected by the pandemic in terms of production, distribution, and disturbance in market performance. Concerning apple, the most harvested and exported fruit in Europe, national governments, European institutions, the industry and producers have undertaken actions to ensure production and supply demand. Yet, stakeholders have faced several difficulties and additional costs for growth and harvest, sales, but also monitoring and research. However, European Union demand for fresh apples has increased during the pandemic. In addition, apple harvest has started a couple of months after the end of the first lockdown in most countries, and European apple orchards are usually in more flexible smallholder or family farms. Finally, the fruit itself has relatively long shelf-life comparatively to other fruits. For these main reasons, we argue that the apple sector might be more resilient than other fruit sectors or other cultures, despite the negative effects of seasonal workforce shortage and unstable market. The apple sector may suffer more from side-effects such as increasing labor, distribution, and packaging costs, than from actual stock and production issues. SIGNIFICANCE: The pandemic could be an opportunity to reconsider production modes and to innovate for the future of food production in different crop systems in Europe, including apple orchards.