The stone fruit sector has been going through a tough time recently and this has led to trend changes as regards the choice of varieties and how they are grown.
"We have noticed that sales to small producers have dropped, while companies with large plantations continue to plant, although not at the same level as ten or fifteen years ago, and they mostly focus on consolidated varieties" she adds.
Every year, Viveros Hernandorena multiplies and markets more than half a million trees, mainly of stone fruits such as peaches, pavias, nectarines, apricots and Paraguayo peaches, as well as plums to a lower extent. It also has almond, kaki, pomegranate and kiwi trees. This campaign, it is already 10 years since the company inaugurated its new facilities, which allowed it to grow both quantitatively and qualitatively, thereby becoming one of the leading nurseries in the sector.
In recent years, the acreage devoted to early stone fruit in Spain has been reduced in Andalusia and has been growing in Murcia and Valencia, which is where this nursery has most of its customers. "We are specialist in the multiplication of all sorts of extra-early stone fruit varieties, which we sell in warm areas in Spain and in other countries of the Mediterranean basin. 30% of our plants are intended for export."
In Hernandorena's experimental fields, they combine new patterns supplied by breeders based on already consolidated varieties. According to Rosa Hernandorena, "the improvements achieved with the current patterns are very interesting in terms of resistance to nematodes and limestone. The trend is to move towards narrower production frameworks, which is why the Garnem patterns are being replaced by those of the less vigorous Rootpac-40. The objective is for early crops to become more productive. To do this, we are offering the C-11 1 litre pot, with more competitive purchase prices for super-intensive plantations. They also have a striated internal structure to prevent the roots from winding, while improvement the drainage capacity.
At the same time, breeders continue to work on the search for tastier varieties, as demanded by the market, although, according to Hernandorena, this is somewhat challenging for the extra-early varieties. "They are fruits that don't take very long to grow on the tree, so they are what we would call short cycle varieties. It is difficult to find fruit in early May with more than 12 Brix degrees. A lot of progress has been made in varietal improvements, and although it takes years to obtain new varieties, we are already on the right track."
Although the sector is going through tough times, Rosa Hernandorena says that "we cannot stay still; we must keep innovating. For this reason, we promote visits by appointment to our catalogue fields, where we showcase different varieties, depending on the needs of each producer. Nowadays, it is difficult to sell through a brochure with photos. Producers need to see trees on site and compare varieties, taste their fruit, etc. This makes the setting up of new plantations a more reliable and safe process. We organise visits from mid-April to mid-June, with a wide range of early and mid-season varieties."
For an appointment, send an e-mail to: comercial@hernandorena.com or call +34 671342477 (José Sánchez, varieties technician).