“The harvesting began a few days ago Bigarreau cherries in open field plots, where good quality is noted despite decreasing yields compared to other years. Clearly the low temperatures that are characterizing the center and north are not making negotiations easier, but we are only at the beginning and there is nothing to worry about.” This, in a nutshell, is the opinion that Vito Giuliano, commercial director of Orchidea Fruttaprovided us with respect to the beginning of the Apulian cherry campaign.
The company, based in Rutigliano, has one of its flagship products in cherries, with volumes increasing day after day: “We are ahead of last year by about 20 days, but in the last few hours there has been a slowdown due to the drop in temperatures. After Bigarreau, we will continue with the medium-early varieties, where the yields seem in line with the average of recent years; then, it will be up to Railroadthe flagship of Apulian cherry growing, which generally shows a balanced charge, which is the prerequisite for excellent quality production”.
Orchid Fruit plans to finish the season between the end of June and the beginning of Julyand then continue with Turkish productions.
Also note how at a production level, a gradual renewal process is underway: “At the varietal level, the planting of new selectionsespecially in the mid-season period – specifies Giuliano – as well as in the colder hilly areas, cherry trees are being planted Kordia And Queen, to lengthen the production window; Likewise, great attention is also paid to the covering of the plants: this demonstrates a certain dynamism of the Apulian cherry growing sector, which is vital and ready to face the challenges that the market imposes. Clearly, compared to the large Spanish players, ours is a fragmented cherry cultivation, characterized by small producers, but, albeit slowly, the renewal process has started and I think it will develop further in the coming years”.
Instead it proceeds quickly technological development of processing lines: “To respond quickly and efficiently to the requests of our most demanding customers, mainly distributors and wholesalers on national markets (but there is no shortage of foreign buyers, European in particular) we have recently implemented the latest innovations both in terms of hardware and software of the Icoel processing lineswhich adopt the sophisticated Tomra technologies for the optical selection of fruits: an upgrade resulting from our company philosophy, which is to provide a high quality product without compromises.”
Finally, the Apulian manager explains the first impressions that emerged regarding the apricotsanother Orchidea Frutta flagship product: “We predict the first breaks around 8-10 May and even in this case we are slightly ahead of the average. At an agricultural level, production is generally regular, albeit with ups and downs, apart from the late varieties, which show a decreasing production rate”. (am)
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