Flandria is busy putting beefsteak tomatoes back on the map with stricter quality requirements for the Baron segment. The requirements: a deep red colour, good flavour and authentic shape. Grower Johan van Bulck recognises these characteristics in the new Syngenta variety Buvena. “But an easy labour and larger size are most important for us.”
For nearly a quarter century, Johan van Bulck has been specialised in beefsteak tomatoes. He has seen the segment change over the years. “In the past, beefsteak tomatoes were lighter in colour, rounder at the top and more susceptible to puncture damage. That didn’t do any favours to quality,” he says. In ten years, the beefsteak tomato area decreased from more than 130 hectares to less than 70 hectares in 2016. Flandria decided to once again devote themselves to a characteristic beefsteak tomato with a good quality and shelf life. “A recognisable quality tomato will increase the trust in the product,” Johan estimates. “You want to be certain of what you’re buying.”
The auction is aiming for a deep red tomato, flat-round, and in a good shape. These characteristics have been added to the requirements for the Baron segment. The knockout system is used in the segmentation. That means that a variety has to meet a number of minimum requirements in, for example, the fields of flavour, colour and firmness, before being eligible for Flandria selection.
Johan has a new Syngenta variety at part of his area for the third year: the Buvena. This meets Flandria’s segmentation requirements, Peter Geerts from Syngenta shows by means of test results from test centres in Meerle and Sint-Katelijne-Waver. “Especially puncture damage sensitivity is very distinctive. That’s an important subject in beefsteak tomatoes: the rounder the tomato is at the top, the quicker they are damaged by the stem.” The Buvena also scores minimally higher than the standard variety regarding brix, flavour score, colour and firmness. The same is true for its resistance against shrinkage cracking.
The Buvena is at 45 cm distance at Johan van Bulck’s.
Ease of labour
“However, for us, the biggest advantage is the ease of the labour,” says Johan. “Because the crop is less extremely vegetative, we have to pinch out less. The plant is easier to bend to your will.” Two years ago, Buvena was a traditional, non-illuminated cultivation at Van Bulck. This year, like last year, it’s a larger test, and it’s illuminated. “For this cultivation, I was the requesting party to plant one greenhouse of Buvena, but Syngenta refused to supply seeds because they weren’t 100 per cent certain of seed quality. Trials, which I have also held, proved that the new seeds are perfectly fine,” Johan says, and this is confirmed by Syngenta’s Peter Geerts as well. Buvena will become more widely available to growers this autumn.
The variety has an IR mildew resistance, and has an average fruit weight that is 25-30 grammes higher than the standard variety. “It’s even more in the illuminated cultivation.”
Movement
Whether it’s Flandria’s renewed attention to shape, flavour and quality of the Baron beefsteak tomato or not, the fact remains that the segment has started moving again, and that more than 20 additional hectares of Baron beefsteak tomatoes will be grown in Belgium this year. Illumination started rising about three years ago: from a few thousand metres to a few hectares, and by now this has doubled to 15 hectares. Johan is also part of this. He currently grows on 4.6 hectares, two of which are illuminated. This spring, part of the company (1.6 hectares non-illuminated) will be replaced by three hectares of new construction, two hectares of which will be illuminated. To finish this cultivation before the end of May, the plants are currently not being spared. “We already stopped pruning four vines, and I think the start will be made one of these days,” Johan concludes. For more information:
Syngenta
Peter Geerts
Tel +32 475 315 999
peter.geerts@syngenta.com
www.syngenta.nl
www.syngenta.be