The sowing of Borettana onions will start in a month's time for the new season. "Those who cultivate them are considered the craftsmen of the sector," explains Matteo Freddi from Freddi Prodotti Ortofrutticoli.
Matteo Freddi
"In 2014, we had to deal with overproduction and with the fact that quality was not very good." It is difficult to see how the stocks of produce, still in cold storage units, could help with the situations.
In Emilia, yields per hectare were of approximately 30 tons, which is a lot. "Everything was going well until June, then rain started in July and continued the whole month. This in turn meant the produce absorbed a lot of water, increased weight and lost quality. In addition, the rain was followed by hot weather, favouring the formation of mould and bacteria which caused some produce to even liquefy."
Borettana onions
"On the other hand Veneto, which produces mostly for the processing industry, had no problems, though their produce is whiter and less tasty than ours because of the sandy soil."
"All of this meant prices were 30% lower than 2013 - 20-25 cents per kg. On the markets, quotations were quite stable, but less produce was sold."
The Freddi family.
The same area will be sowed in 2015, though production is expected to be lower. However, it is difficult to make an estimate.
"I am somewhat more confident as regards the fresh produce sector. Chains are looking for a few simple things: a guaranteed supply of high quality produce with the longest shelf-life possible. We can achieve this - by improving the processing of the onions, we went from a 5/6 day shelf-life to 21 days. This led to a 20% increase in sales."
Freddi Borettana onion fields during harvesting.
The majority of the produce is sold in Italy. "We used to sell more abroad, but we weren't able to improve. We made mistakes and lost our share of the market to Belgian and Dutch onions, which aren't so tasty when compared to our sweet Borettana onions."
The US understood that Borettana onions are ideal to accompany many dishes.
"We have been trying to promote the produce abroad once again thanks to the 'Borettana 0 difetti' project, and our onions are starting to be available again in Denmark, Sweden and in the UK. We are even exporting them to the US, where the feedback has been very positive."
Packets of borettana onions.
"We are trying to make people understand that these onions are different and I believe we will succeed. The objective is to focus once again on the quality of the product, not only on its price - trying to sell it at the lowest price is what damaged us in the first place. Borettana onions are not a commodity like standard onions, they are instead ideal to accompany various dishes. The US understood this very well."
Contacts:
Matteo Freddi
Freddi Prod. Ortofrutticoli snc
Via Lama, 41
Calerno di S. Ilario d' Enza (RE)
Tel.: (+39) 0522 679831
Fax: (+39) 0522 679854
Cell.: (+39) 335 7103937
Skype: freddi-vegetables
Email: freddionions@yahoo.it