Eco Farm, a Sicilian company growing and commercializing fruit products, has grown a lot over the past 20 years. It now covers over 1000 hectares producing table grapes, peaches, nectarines, apricots, persimmons, oranges and more, delivered all over the domestic territory and to a good part of Europe. FreshPlaza discussed the current season with sales manager Maurizio Fiorenza.
Maurizio Fiorenza
"The stone fruit campaign is in full swing, as it starts in May and ends in October. We start with apricots between early May and late August, while peaches and nectarines are available between late May and early October in normal years."
"Flavor and grades have been excellent, although yields are 20% lower than usual. The bad weather in other Italian and European areas and the resulting lack of produce, combined with the frequent uprooting of peaches and nectarines, put us in a privileged situation."
Satisfactory quotations
"We can finally bring some satisfaction to producers who, over the past few years, have had to deal with low prices. Nectarine production prices at the moment hover around €0.70-0.80/kg, and are just a little lower for peaches."
"We operate mainly on the domestic market and with the leading chains. We pay particular attention to the overall quality of our products, flavor and Brix level. Grades have been excellent this year and can exceed double A. It can actually be a bit of a problem, as fruits are too large for our punnets!"
"The feedback for O'Henry yellow peaches has been great. This year, most productions will end in the second week of September. During this phase, orders exceed availability, but we still try to ship as much as possible to maintain our relationship with our usual clients. This is a transition year for us as 50 hectares of peaches and nectarines will become productive in 2021 so as to guarantee supplies."
Table grapes
"The table grape campaign is going well. We started in June with the Victoria variety and are now continuing with Italia grapes, which will available until December. We own over 120 hectares and things are not too bad, considering the general situation. We are confident Italia grapes will make a comeback, as they have gone back to having their characteristic sweet flavor."
Persimmons and citrus fruit
"A few years ago, we started successfully producing and commercializing persimmons from October onward. Thanks to our soil and weather conditions, we manage to supply fruit with a great flavor. In addition, thanks to our new producer partners, we have blond oranges from November and blood oranges from December and for the entire duration of the Sicilian citrus fruit season."
Contacts:
O.P. Eco Farm s.r.l.
Sede Legale: Viale della Regione, 232 
93100 Caltanissetta
Stabilimenti: C.da Judeca
93011 Butera (CL)
Tel.: +39 0934 921558
Fax: +39 0934 922362
Email: info@ecofarmitalia.com
Website: www.ecofarmitalia.com