In the Netherlands, preparations for the new top fruit season are well underway at the Staay Food Group. "As with Dutch cherries and plums, the top fruit harvest will also begin two to three weeks late," says Mark Loojenga on behalf of the Staay Food Group. "Initially, the outlook was rather poor. But the cold seems to have caused less damage than expected. We're now even thinning out the trees. Our harvest should be somewhat smaller than average. It will, however, still be of a good size."
In recent years, this company has put a lot of effort into cultivating new (red) pear varieties. These include the Early Desire and Red Conference. The Early Desire (Gräfin Gepa) is an early autumn red-blushed pear. A good crop is expected this year. "This variety blooms slightly earlier. It was, therefore, ahead of the worst cold. We can start harvesting these pears from the end of August. We'll then have them available at the end of the first week in September."
Red Conference pears in week 32
“We've recently planted many young Rode Conference trees. This red pear has the same DNA as the green Conference. Staay has, by far, the most acreage of the green variety. It's the only red pear with good storage characteristics. We can only offer the Red Conference very exclusively this year," Mark concludes. The Staay Food Group expects this pear's first real commercial crop next year.
For more information:
Staay Food Group B.V.
Mark Loojenga
Marketing Manager
Tel: +31 (0) 613 808 981
Email: mark.loojenga@staay.nl
Website: www.staay.nl