Italy: Gold kiwi growing area declines
The varieties
Hort 16A, created by Plant & Food New Zealand, has excellent organoleptic characteristics and shelf-life but it is really susceptible to the Psa, so orchards are currently being converted into SunGold (Gold3 or G3), introduced in Italy by Zespri in 2010.
The other two most popular gold varieties in Italy are Soreli and Jintao, both of which are less susceptible to Psa. Soreli is intended for local and European markets between October and early January because its shelf-life is not very long. It is however interesting because it is early and the fruit has a good colour.
Jintao, on the other hand, has a long shelf-life, so it can be sold until the produce from the Southern hemisphere arrives.
Another yellow variety is Dori, which was selected by the Universities of Bologna and Udine.
Growing areas in Italy
According to the data collected by the Cso-Centro servizi ortofrutticoli di Ferrara, there was a drop in investments in the main producer regions (Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont and Lazio) between 2010 and 2012. Jingold went from 650 to 500 ha and Hort 16A went from 600 to 130 ha.
Evolution of land destined for gold kiwis in Italy
In Piedmont, a total of 1,013 ha was dug up between 2010 and 2014. Other uprootings will probably take place in April, as many growers wait to see if the plants have indeed been affected during germination. At the end of the campaign we could have about 1,100 or even 1,200 ha which has been dug up. According to Creso technicians, uprooting of the A. chinensis gold variety (Hort16A, Jintao and Soreli) affected over 90% of the plants.
In Veneto, around 15 hectares were dug up but gold kiwis were not very popular in the first place. At the moment between 100 and 150 ha of gold kiwis are being cultivated.
In 2009, there were 290 ha of gold kiwis in Emilia-Romagna. Since then, 20% of them have been dug up (58 ha) even though many growers decided to pollard trees, so in the end there should be around 300 ha of Hayward and SunGold in the region.
In Lazio there were 800 ha of gold kiwis in 2008 but now there are only 60-80. 600 ha had already been dug up by mid-2013.