FilinaraFarm from Monterubbiano (Fermo) was the first to believe in the idea by the Department of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Studies at Università Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM) and by Assam (Agenzia per lo sviluppo Agricolo della Regione Marche) to produce strawberries in the Marche region over 10 months a year.
Others will follow and are getting their crops ready for 2019, when everyone will follow a specific schedule to cover the entire calendar except for January and February.
Thanks to its soil-less crop, FilinaraFarm started harvesting the autumn produce in late September 2018 and will continue until mid-November only to resume in March and April 2019.
Then it will be the turn of polytunnels in May and June, so as to produce the fruit 7 months a year.
Consumers require strawberries 365 days a year. Over the past few years, many studies have confirmed the beneficial properties of this fruit.
Soil-less cultivation enabled the company to make pest control unnecessary to reduce root diseases and to eliminate weeders while employing integrated control techniques. What is more, vegetable cultivation has been abandoned while the focus has been placed exclusively on strawberries.
Production and commercial results have been excellent during the first year.
The varietal choice and production technique was supported by professors Bruno Mezzetti and Franco Capocasa from UNIVPM. 6,000 plants were planted in the soil-less plot, 2,000 of which are tray plants while another 4,000 are A++ in refrigerated storage. Both early and medium varieties were chosen.
Ortenzi S.r.l. "Oro della Terra" immediately believed in FilinaraFarm's innovative project and was in charge of commercialization. Those who have tried these strawberries have gone back to repurchase them precisely for their characteristics.
For further information: b.mezzetti@staff.univpm.it