HAMYANG, South Korea, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- As harvest season approached last November, farmer Ma Yong-un walked through his apple orchard in southern South Korea with a growing sense of dread.
The Fuji apples hanging from the trees were pale, lacking the deep red color that signals sweetness and commands a good price. To make matters worse, many were splitting open as they ripened.
An unusually rainy fall had blocked the sunlight needed for proper coloring, following one of the hottest summers on record.
"I had never seen this kind of cracking before," Ma, 55, told UPI on his farm in Hamyang, a rural county in South Gyeongsang Province. "I was so stressed. I was worried about my family's survival."
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