Apple crowd under a cloud

摘要

This year's Fruchtwelt Bodensee meeting in the German fruit-producing heartland of Lake Constance was somewhat overshadowed by last April's severe frosts, which drastically reduced the region's apple harvest and, by all accounts, put quite a few of the region's fruit companies in danger. While Peter Hauk, German Minister for Rural Affairs and Consumer Protection, promised visitors that financial aid for affect-ed companies would be forthcoming the overall atmosphere at the event remained understandably downbeat.