Italy: Weather conditions make it difficult to select produce

This year the weather has been particularly variable, a thing which companies that have crops in various regions, like Sipo, know full well. Sipo in fact produces and processes vegetables from Emilia-Romagna, Puglia, Abruzzo, Lazio, Toscana, Veneto, Campania and Marche.

Stefano Pezzagli, technical manager, talks about the main products being processed at the moment - round and long red chicory from Veneto, endive from Puglia and Campania, celery from Puglia and spinach from Tuscany.

Red chicory
"The quality of cold-stored red chicory is not particularly good and we have had to discard over 50% of it. Probably it was due to the fact that temperatures were high and it rained a lot during harvesting."

"Problems are similar for round red chicory and, in addition, prices are rather low. The weather is also affecting April production as early transplants in polytunnels are presenting problems due to eater stagnation," explains Pezzagli.

Endive
"We are packaging the produce that is usually harvested in mid-March and dealing with all the difficulties presented by early ripening. Chances are that the quality of a lot of produce will not be good."

Celery
"Celery is 15 days early more or less, so it is very probable that there will be a gap in the next few days, Quality is very good though."

Spinach
"Abundant rain and high temperatures levelled the quality of spinach. Quality is not good and shelf-life is poor also. In addition, the soil remaining on the leaves is very difficult to wash away, meaning that there is a lot of waste."

"This season caused a lot of problems which only expert companies can overcome, in addition to dealing with a lot of waste and higher labour costs. Quality is not ideal but we are managing to maintain our standards," concludes Stefano Pezzagli.

Contacts
Sipo srl
Via Fermignano 20
47814 Bellaria Igea Marina (RN)
Tel.: (+39) 0541 339711
Fax: (+39) 0541 339734
Email: sipo@sipo.it
Web: www.sipo.it