Italy: Mountain strawberries now available

The mountain strawberry season has started in the Verona province, 1200 metres asl. Under the Fragolà brand, Ceradini Group supplies a high-quality produce that will be available until late October.

"We produce over 220 tons of strawberries of the Irma and Murano varieties. Brix level is high and shelf-life is excellent. We own 400 thousand plants, making our orchard one of the leading in Europe," explains owner Massimo Ceradini. The main characteristic is the employment of soil-less and protected cultivation techniques.The technical manager is Mattia Brutti with the help of Davide Dal Molin.

Everything is organised down to the tiniest detail. Fifty operators harvest the fruit in the morning, and it is then immediately packaged and placed in a refrigerated environment. They are distributed according to orders.

"This year, we have received a lot of orders from Italian retailers but have kept working with the other channels as well. The continuity and homogeneous supplies, combined with the high-quality of mountain crops, make our produce appealing to those who want to stand out."

From an agronomic point of view, soil-less cultivation enables the optimisation of nutritional inputs. Defence is made easier thanks to polytunnles and treatments are kept to a minimum. Thousands of traps have been placed against Drosophila suzukii and its incidence is very low.

Irrigation water is accumulated in six large tanks and reused once is it's in the soil-less circuit.

"Sales are picking up and the produce is available in the classic 2 kg packet. We have continued to work with markets and greengrocers as well as with retailers."

Contacts:
Massimo Ceradini
Ceradini Group
Tel.: (+39) 045 8510268
Fax: (+39) 045 8518981
Cell.: (+39) 347 5366206
Email: info@ceradinigroup.com
Web: www.ceradinigroup.com