Costa Blanca North
Preserving heritage: Vall de Gallinera Cherry Festival
By Anna Ellis •
Published: 02 Jun 2024 • 11:48
The Festival offers visitors the chance to enjoy the traditional market of locally sourced and artisanal products, including the renowned cherries from the Vall de Gallinera itself.
This festival comes amidst the backdrop of six consecutive years of poor cherry harvests in the mountains of Alicante, a challenge not isolated to the Valls de la Marina Alta but affecting much of the Alicante Mountain region, designated a Protected Geographical Indication in 1991 in Alpatró.
New Pests and Seasonal Challenges
Various factors have compounded the challenges faced by cherry growers, including the emergence of a new pest, Drosophila suzukii, and cherry varieties ill-suited to changing seasonal patterns and prolonged droughts caused by climate change.
High production costs and inadequate income insurance for smallholdings in the region have also contributed to the issue, leading to the visible abandonment of farmland in Les Valls and heightening the risk of depopulation.
In response, the Vall de Gallinera City Council is organising a Cherry Festival for the second year in a row, aiming to draw attention to these pressing issues.
Rich History
The festival seeks to address the current challenges faced by cherry growers in a region with a rich history of cherry production.
Preserving this agricultural heritage is crucial, but it requires prioritisation from relevant institutions.
Sign up for personalised news
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our
Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Originally from Derbyshire, Anna has lived in the middle of nowhere on the Costa Blanca for 19 years. She is passionate about her animal family including four dogs and four horses, musicals and cooking.
Known as the PEOPLE’S PAPER, Euro Weekly News is the leading English language newspaper in Spain. And it’s FREE!
Covering the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Almeria, Axarquia, Mallorca and beyond, EWN supports and inspires the individuals, neighbourhoods, and communities we serve, by delivering news with a social conscience. Whether it’s local news in Spain, UK news or international stories, we are proud to be the voice for the expat communities who now call Spain home.
With around half a million print readers a week and over 1.5 million web views per month, EWN has the biggest readership of any English language newspaper in Spain. The paper prints over 150 news stories a week with many hundreds more on the web – no one else even comes close.
Our publication has won numerous awards over the last 25 years including Best Free Newspaper of the Year (Premios AEEPP), Company of the Year (Costa del Sol Business Awards) and Collaboration with Foreigners honours (Mijas Town Hall). All of this comes at ZERO cost to our readers. All our print and online content always has been and always will be FREE OF CHARGE.
Sign up for personalised news
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Close
