The agreement between Forlì's CRA-FRF and the Californian nursery company Sierra Cascade to test the Pircinque and Jonica strawberry varieties in California and Mexico is proving successful.
Walther Faedi – CRA-FRF director – is quite pleased at how the plants (developed by CRA-FRF in collaboration with Piraccini Secondo) are doing in California.
Pircinque and Jonica in a high elevation nursery garden on 5th May 2014. Photo by Christopher Quinci Winterbottom (CQW).
The two varieties are being tested in two nursery gardens in Sierra Cascade - one is low elevation and the other is high elevation. Bare root plants will be then cultivated in Southern California and Mexico.
Pircinque and Jonica in a low elevation nursery garden on 20th July 2014. (Photo CQW).
The same two varieties are also being tested in Brazil and Australia. "It is the perfect example of how the results of Italian research can be exported. For our varieties to be successful abroad we need to be really organised and adopt safety measures to prevent people from cultivating them without authorisation. It is thus very important to choose the right partner. That is why we collaborate with the Sierra Cascade Nursery in the West and Nurse Farms - Berry Plant Nursery Massachusetts on East coast."
Pircinque and Jonica in a low elevation nursery garden on 20th July 2014. (Photo CQW).
"The development of fruit cultivation in Italy always depended on foreign varieties, but now things are changing and we are developing varieties that make us known at a global level."
The authorised dealers in Europe are: Viveros Herol SL and Viveros California in Spain; Agronom Berries Group in Poland; Vivai Mazzoni and Salvi Vivai in Italy.
For further info: walther.faedi@entecra.it