Asparagus harvesting started last week at Azienda Agricola Pasquariello Giovanni. Unless there are temperature changes, the campaign should last until late May/early June.
"We are in line with the season. Despite the fact that we started harvesting the first very limited volumes very early, the season only fully started a few days ago with good quantities and excellent quality," explains company owner Giovanni Pasquariello.
The asparagus cultivated in the Capitanata area are different from those in other parts of Italy and Europe. They are entirely green with purple tips and remain rather closed.
Unlike last year, the produce is ready fifteen days early thanks to the favourable temperatures. "Until last week, quantities were only destined to the domestic market. On Saturday 2nd April 2016, we started exporting to France and Germany. Demand from these countries is still low due to the high prices - on the domestic market, prices hover between €3 and 4/kg depending on grade, but they are 50 cents higher on the foreign market. The advantage is that Spain does not have big volumes available either because of late frost, rain and cold temperatures."
In addition, northern Italian productions should become available in a few days' time and that will also affect the market.
What is more, Easter also posed a problem. "Usually, demand increases during the Easter period, but as it was very early this year, we did not have the suitable volumes so we could not supply retailers nor foreign customers."
Agricola Pasquariello sells its produce using the Linea24 mode, which guarantees that the asparagus are harvested, processed and delivered within 24 hours in Italy and 48 hours in Europe. This mode is only applicable to the wholesale (Brescia, Milan, Bergamo, Turin and Florence) and farmer's markets.
"We are pursuing our objective focusing on the main characteristics of the Asparago24 line, i.e. total length of 24 centimetres and 24 calories per 100 grams of product."
The company is also looking to add more foreign destinations, especially in Poland and Slovenia, where trade is in place with two big Polish importers and a Slovenian supermarket chain. "These markets appreciate high-quality products and identify the concept of high-quality with Italy and therefore with our products."
Left to right: Luciano Trentini, Marco Mingozzi and Giovanni Pasquariello.
Flame weeding
On Friday 1st April, Agricola Pasquariello hosted a demonstration on weed elimination techniques that use heat (see photo above). "The event was successful and around 20 companies took part. We tried a new machine from Officine Mingozzi, which worked wonderfully. It can cut down vegetation while at the same time eliminating diseases and weed seeds. Speed is the only thing to adjust to avoid damaging the plants."
Flame weeding demonstration.
Through flame weeding, the owner of Agricola Pasquariello has the objective of improving the health of its production while significantly reducing the use of chemical products.
Flame weeding demonstration.
"We would like to start with organic cultivation. In Italy, and even more on the foreign market, there is a lot of demand for organic produce. This segment has a bright future if prices do not increase too much."
"We are evolving. We no longer use close-up layouts so we can save water (irrigation at 2.50 metres instead of 1.30) and labour, halving flame weeding costs."
Contacts:
Giovanni Pasquariello
Cell.: +39 328 9126249
Azienda Agricola Pasquariello Giovanni
C.da trionfo 472
71041 Carapelle (FG)
Email: agricolapasquariello@alice.it
Web: www.agricolapasquariello.it