Potato harvesting reached 60% in the Fucino plain, and yields per hectare are 10% higher than 2013. Quality is looking good as there were no problems due to excessive rain like in the North, though "prices are half of what they were in 2013," explains Raffaele Torti.
Owners Giuseppe and son, Raffaele Torti.
The Torti company has been working in the potato and onion sector since 1975. Nowadays, the company is equipped with state-of-the-art warehouses with automatic selection and packaging lines. It covers 400 hectares producing around 25,000 tons of potatoes.
"There are many factors that influence prices, such as the stocks still available in Central and Southern Italy. Some problems for us are the lack of foreign outlets and competition with the French produce on the internal market."
Varietal diversification
In the past few years, the company invested in innovation and varietal diversification, introducing purple, blue and red potatoes. "Purple potatoes were launched 3-4 years ago and are doing well. We must say however that special potatoes only represent 7-8% of our volumes, so we are talking about a niche market."
The new product launched at Macfrut 2014 is a two-coloured potato variety (see photo below). "We are still evaluating it from a commercial point of view and are working on special packaging."
Waiting for the PGI mark
Fucino potatoes are waiting for the PGI mark to be recognised. "We hope we will be able to use it soon, as we believe it will help us with our business - the situation is not very easy at the moment, but we will be the ones ending the campaign, so we will see how things go."