A tropical fruit expert said it's been a bad year for mangoes in South Florida.
Speaking at this year’s International Mango Festival in Coral Gables, Dr. Noris Ledesma blamed the situation on the weather. She's the tropical fruit curator at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables.
"It rained almost every week, when we had the blooming,” Ledesma said. “We lost the majority of the crop because of the rainy season."
Ledesma said that the crop also arrived early this year. “Now, with the weather, you never know what is going to happen. Everything is moving late, or early -- it's not the same anymore,” she said. “Global warming is a reality, and things are changing."
Ledesma said that the Mango Festival in mid-July is usually peak season for mangoes. But this year, she said there were very few of the fruits still on the trees.
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