Organic fruit will be in the spotlight at Xtrema Fruit 2018 (www.xtremafruit.es); an event that will be held on 4 and 5 October in the facilities of Feval Institución Ferial de Extremadura, in the Spanish municipality of Don Benito. The second technical session will be exclusively devoted to the advances made in organic stone fruit production. It will be the first forum at national level to focus on this topic.
The boom in the consumption of organic fruits and vegetables explains the importance of holding such an event. Also, the production in Spain has increased by 17%, according to data revealed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment in its report "Organic agriculture. Statistics for 2016".
Spain is the world's tenth largest producer of organic fruits grown in temperate climates (pears, plums, peaches or cherries). It is also the largest producer and exporter of organic stone fruit in Europe.
Extremadura, which is hosting the event, is now housing one of the largest handling and packaging centres for organic fruit in Europe. It was opened by the company Haciendas Bio, national leader in the organic sector.
Two technical days
In the first of the technical days (Thursday, 4 October), producers, exporters, technicians, researchers, marketers, nurseries or auxiliary companies will also have a chance to learn about the latest developments in the stone fruit sector. The focus will be on Extremadura's flagship agricultural products, such as plums or cherries, but also peaches, Paraguayo peaches and almonds.
The event, organised by the company Agromarketing (www.agromarketing.es), has the support of the Association of Fruit Growers of Extremadura (Afruex) and the Government of Extremadura. A few weeks ago, heads of the organizing company met with the director of the Centre for Scientific and Technological Research of Extremadura (Cicytex), Carmen González; and the director of Feval, Manuel Gómez, as well as with other technicians in order to finalise the technical program.
The autonomous region is one of the areas with the highest production of stone fruit in Spain. It has over 23,000 hectares devoted to fruit cultivation that yield products worth 150 million Euro each campaign. The quality and the demand for these products is corroborated by the fact that 75% of the production is exported to more than 40 countries in the world.