First Seminis Winter melon event is a success

During the 22, 23 and 24th of November 2016, Monsanto organised personalised meetings in the Dutch city of Ridderkerk about their winter and summer portfolio in the Galia and Cantaloupe segment.

The objective of these meetings was to create more awareness of the taste, firmness, shelf life and sustainability aspects (resistance packages) of these varieties.

To make this happen a shelf was available with different varieties from several sources to see and taste them.

The alignment between the Brazilian portfolio and the European assortment was explained during a presentation by Nico van Vliet, Trade Partnership manager.

During the conversations it became more and more clear that retailers would like to have uniformity in taste and appearance during the whole year to maintain their consumer loyalty.

Breeder Peter Kraakman explained that he is aware of these needs and that’s the reason that he developed more varieties which are usable not only in Europe but also overseas or vice versa.

A perfect example is Galia SV5133MG, this variety is well accepted at the grower level in both continents and will be year-round available for retail.

Also in Cantaloupe, there was a lot of interest in the newest variety, Don David from the American program, in combination with the variety Sugarlup.

Sugarlup, a new introduction, has an opportunity to deliver excellent quality out of Almeria prior to perfect quality out of Murcia and La Mancha areas.

Nice conversation about taste results

The taste session was really educational. First visitors were asked to give their own perception and then afterwards they were shown the same fruit's brix and firmness. It was recognized that Brix is only an indication but not a fact-based confirmation of consumer perception.

Finally, it was concluded that consumption can only be increased in Europe if the uniformity in taste and appearance between both continents is optimized.

The local approach was well appreciated by the visitors and really fruitful for the Monsanto Product management and R&D departments and it will be continued.

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