89 - Eurofresh Distribution

tomato & pepper/tomate & pimieNto
Spain, the primary
user of beneficial
organisms
Almeria expects a six
to eight fold increase
in the number of crops
using bio pest-control.
Spain is on the verge of becoming the
primary user for beneficial organisms.
The success of organic control in the
Almeria’s fields and the persistent pesticide
residue crisis has caused a boom
in Almeria’s bio pest control market.
More than 50% of the total crop area
of peppers is expected, as well as large
increases in the other crops, including
even those of the short spring cycle.
The last campaign obtained very good
agronomic results: “85% of the farmers
were able to maintain bio control
until the end of the season, that is to
say, without using chemical pesticides
at any level”, declared Jan Van Der
Blom, technical coordinator of the professional
organization Coexphal.
In the 2006/2007 campaign approximately
650 h. of peppers have been
registered under bio control in the
province of Almeria, out of 8000 ha
crops. In the case of the tomato, we
are talking about 8% of the surface
area, 500 h., of a total of 8000 cultivated.
The province of Murcia, the second
Spanish producer of peppers and
seeds nearly all of its 1800 h. of peppers
under organic control, although
they are spring-summer crops, with a
far inferior environmental density.
In other protected crops of cucumber,
beans, melons, watermelons and
strawberry, this system is also starting
to be applied, although over a much
smaller surface area, but with a clear
tendency gain ground over conventional
chemical control. The rest of the
Mediterranean countries also represent
great potential (between 40 and
50.000 h. estimated in Turkey, 20,000
in Italy and 10,000 in Morocco), and
the companies which supply beneficial
organisms are still in the phase of
strengthening their strategies for the
Spanish market (+-50.000 h.).
At Agrupaejido,
only the best will do
The biggest export group in western
Almeria aims to have all its members’
3300 ha of crops being grown by integrated
methods within two years. This
will mean tripling its technical team to
35. The 12 agricultural engineers currently
on the staff cover around 700 ha
under integrated crop management.
«Next season we will have nearly 1700
ha certified EurepGAP and under integrated
production management», said
the general manager of the group,
José García Fuentes. Agrupaejido is
also strengthening its own mass media
and laboratory resources, which
are part of its overarching total quality
policy. It owns Punto Radio (one of the
3 radio stations with the biggest audiences
in Almería) and Canal Sí (the top
audience figures for any TV station in
the province) and has just acquired
100% of the shares in Laboratorio
SICA, which is authorised to carry out
all types of agricultural analysis. The
group is also acquiring a second liquid
chromatography machine so that
it can analyse and identify a spectrum
of over 70 active substances
Agrupaejido intends to maintain its
availability at around 160,000 tonnes
next season. Around 95,000 tonnes
of these are packed in its own packhouses
(La Cehorpa, Las Marinas and
La Mojonera) and marketed at destination.
«We supply almost all the
main multiples in Europe». The other
65,000 tonnes are purchased by other
buyers at the group’s 5 auction markets.
Agrupaejido also grows around 30,000
tonnes of tomatoes in Mexico. In its
fourth year in business, the unit has
100 ha of crops and around 24 million
euros have been invested in it. 30%
are sold to a Mexican chain, Soriana,
and the rest go to chains in the United
States. «Our food safety measures
there are impressive, including disinfecting
every single vehicle», mentioned
José García.
Agroponiente Natural Produce
From next September, the Agroponiente
group’s commercial operations
will be merged into a single marketing
company, Agroponiente Natural
Produce. It will absorb the sales
organisations of the 3 companies,
Agroponiente SA, Agroponiente SAT
and Agroponiente Nijar, which are
in fact already operating jointly. The
new commercial organisation will take
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care of marketing around 50% of the
group’s 160,000 tonnes at destination
(the rest will continue to be sold
at source at Agroponiente’s auctions).
«We still have the leeway to reach
60% sales at destination, because
we have diversified our markets»,
said the group’s general manager,
Antonio Escobar. The past two years
have seen a sharp rise in exports to
Britain, which accounts for around
25% of sales and has taken over from
Germany (30% with the rest of Central
Europe) as Agroponiente’s top export
market. Italy (9%) and Eastern Europe
(8%) are the destinations that are still
growing the most. Russia in particular
is seeing spectacular growth, thanks
to Difrusa, the marketing consortium
to which the group is affiliated.
A unified quality policy is the other
main objective of Agroponiente Natural
Produce. All the packhouses are
already certified to ISO 9001 (since
1998), BRC (since 2004) and IFS (since
2006). A large proportion of the fields
already comply with the food safety
protocols. 120 ha of the Poniente
(western Almería) fields already have
EurepGAP certification and all the to-
EUROFRESH
DISTRIBUTION
89
mato crops in the Nijar area (150 ha)
fulfil the UNE 155000 standards, which
cover EurepGAP requirements.
Agrupalmería, tomatoes
from specialists
Agrupalmería’s auction sales will grow
by 10% this season, the auction house
has confirmed. The auction is known
for the quality of its speciality tomato
supplies: genuine Raf or Marmande
types, the Ref hybrids Delicia and Conquista
and green slicing tomatoes.
They account for 25% of Agrupalmería’s
availability, alongside long-life
(45% of sales), truss (15%) and plum
tomatoes (15%) Agrupalmería is confirmed
as the second-ranking tomato
auction in Almería province, with sales
of 110,000 tonnes, and continues to
attract new growers and buyers. Operating
out of the new premises since
2005 (25,000 m 2 under cover), it offers
top tomato buying conditions and logistics.
Even though it has a system
whereby produce can be sold freely,
its commitment to quality and food
safety along with the growers leaves
no room for doubt. «Our policy quality
is very strict and we do a lot of farm
advisory work», stated the manager,
Francisco Maleno. A 9-strong technical
team provides backing for implementation
of the EurepGAP and integrated
crop management standards.
30% of the current crop is already
certified and over 50% certification
is anticipated next season. The quality
inspection staff at the auctions has
been strengthened by 50% this year.