Estonian orchard owners celebrate rich apple harvest despite cool summer
Estonian growers report an unusually abundant apple harvest this year, though hail damaged fruit in several orchards, pushing much of the crop toward juice production instead of direct sale. Owners say the taste and size of the apples remain excellent despite the unpredictable summer weather.
Apple growers across Estonia are enjoying a bountiful harvest this season, with trees producing plenty of large, sweet fruit. However, unpredictable summer weather left its mark: hail severely damaged apples in some orchards, meaning a portion of the crop is being pressed into juice rather than sold whole.
Svetlana Chaikina, owner of the Õuna farm, says such a strong yield doesn't happen every year — every few years the trees rest, giving farmers a break too, since a large harvest means extra work distributing fruit, making jam, and pressing juice. At Õuna farm, roughly 300–400 liters of juice are produced per season. Despite a far from ideal summer, Chaikina has no complaints about taste, describing the apples as sweet and juicy as usual.
At Raudkivi farm, Lidia Kaazik planted her first apple trees 15 years ago, starting with five rows that gradually grew into an orchard covering more than a hectare. The trees delivered again this year, producing large, abundant fruit, but a severe hailstorm on July 5 left almost no apple undamaged. Since the orchard mainly grows winter varieties normally sold to hotels and at markets during the cold season, most of this year's crop will instead go toward juice production.
Hail also struck Villu Pärtna's orchard in Lüganuse, damaging apples left unprotected by leaves, though without spoiling the overall result. Pärtna says his young orchard, which now has around 400 trees on one and a half hectares, keeps yielding more each year and even exceeded expectations this season. The farm presses juice both from its own apples and from fruit brought by other local growers, with noticeably more work compared to last year's leaner harvest. Roughly 60–70 liters of juice come from every 100 kilograms of apples, with pressing costing 60 cents per liter and pasteurization slightly more.
The main task now is harvesting and processing the crop quickly enough so apples — fresh or as juice — last until next season.
