Cold weather favors the production of apples and trout

Dealing with uncertainties in climate is part of the daily life of Apple producers in Serra Catarinense, where one out of every two apples consumed in the country. Three years ago the national production has been affected by hail, Frost and dry, which should result in a 5% lower harvest in 2014 compared to the last year of 1.08 million tons. In Serra Catarinense, the activity generates income for 2.4 thousand families of farmers and create 18 thousand temporary jobs between January and April, harvest time.
In 2013 sales of apples processed r $ 1.4 billion in Brazil. Practically all the production concentrates on the three States of the South, because of the favorable climate condition. Cold plant, the Apple tree needs at least 700 hours in temperatures below 7.2 degrees so you can go into dormancy and so accumulate energy to develop. Santa Catarina is the largest national producer of the fruit, with 51% of sales, followed by Rio Grande do Sul (44%) and Paraná (5 percent).
The first research on the culture of Apple in Brazil were held in 1963 by French agronomists. Until 1985, the Golden variety represented a third of the plantations, but there was rejection of consumers because of the acidity of the fruit. In the early 1990 it was eradicated and replaced by the varieties Gala and Fuji. A big jump in the production of Fuji in the Serra Catarinense occurred from the research conducted in cooperation with technicians from the province of Aomori Prefecture, in Japan.
"Grow Apple trees is an opportunity to earn a decent living in the field, but there's a catch," says the President of the Brazilian Association of Apple Producers, Pierre Nicolas Pérès. "It's a culture of very expensive, complex deployment and technified, so the entrepreneur needs to be capitalized, and plan for the business". A problem occurred during the last four years is the lack of manpower.
"The improvement of the purchasing power caused many young people have found job opportunities in other regions," he says. For him, the solution goes through the search for new technologies. The farmer João Martins Son is one of those who have found it difficult to hire people for harvesting in its 27-acre orchard in Urubici, which demand around 50 temporary workers.
Other business that depends on the cold is the creation of rainbow trout in captivity. The fish needs water and crystalline at temperatures between 3 and 26 degrees, no shortage in the region. Around 60 designers develop the activity in the State. As an intensive culture, she can achieve high productivity in small areas. An economic feasibility study conducted by Andressa Steffen Barbosa, a master's degree in Animal Science from Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (Udesc), estimates a period of five to six years for return on capital invested.
In Urubici works the second largest producer in the country, Professor Trout helium, created by biologist Helium Antunes de Souza. The entire production cycle is carried out in-house, which supplies the product in the form of steak. In 1985 he created a computer program for the management of fish to have it available offer. He invested $ 3.5 million in business and produces on average 10 tons monthly, with annual sales of $ 1.5 million.