Huelva's strawberry supply is starting to grow. However, we mustn't forget that the campaign started with the early strawberries from potted plants, which came out in November to a market in which, according to Manuel Sánchez of Exportfarms, "demand has always been above supply."
"Potted strawberry plants can produce fruit from November to April, while the bare-rooted plants start producing fruit in January. This year, the campaign, in general, has been delayed because the plants, which depend a lot on the weather, came a little ripe from the Segovia seedlings. The pot plant campaign, in particular, has been very uneven due to the heat stress at certain times."
"However, last November, when strawberries normally do not have very high prices because there are other products on the market, there were almost no strawberries in Europe, and the few there were achieved very good prices. We've had never-before-seen prices in this campaign. The price of the varieties that we can consider normal stood at around 10 euros per kilo, while the premium ones stood at around 12," Manuel stated.
"The Fortuna variety continues to work when potted. However, I've heard that's not the case when it's grown in the fields, so it'll probably become a residual variety if there's a nursery that decides to continue producing it."
"Many varieties are currently being released on the market, but I don't think they've been tested enough. Another issue we're facing this year is a lack of water, so we've decided to work with the same varieties as last year because we know them well enough, and it is a very complicated year to do tests." We must remember that, due to the drought, water for irrigation endowments in Huelva has been restricted by 50% over the normal amount. In addition, we don't know if next year they'll be increased to 75% because there was almost no rain in autumn, so the reservoirs haven't filled up."
Different agricultural organizations from Huelva, together with Freshuelva, have called for a protest on February 1 at the gates of the Government Delegation in Seville to demand the hydraulic infrastructure that the province has been waiting for decades and that would alleviate the current situation of extreme lack of water. "I'm going to attend the protest," Manuel stated. "Our main request is that the necessary measures be taken to fix this situation. In '95, almost 30 years ago, there was a great drought, and nothing has been done since then to prevent that situation from happening again. And, as we can see, it's happened again."
For more information:
Exportfarms S.L.
Huelva, España
Tel.: +34 609 692 581
oficina@exportfarms.com