In the coming months, the Association of producers of the Spring Sunshine mandarin variety will constitute the Spring Running Committee (SRC), an entity that will begin to operate in January of 2020 and will be in charge of the control, defense, and promotion of the Spring Sunshine variety.
This was announced by the director general of The Enforcement Organization (TEO), David Alba, at a briefing held last week at the headquarters of AVA-ASAJA, which was attended by more than a hundred farmers. They also presented the good results obtained by the Spring Sunshine variety from the beginning of its commer-cialization. In less than a year, TEO has licensed more than 200,000 plants of the Spring Sunshine variety, reaching some 500 authorized hectares in Spain.
The TEO (the exclusive master licensee of the variety in Spain) recalled that the Spring Sunshine mandarin was registered on May 10, 2016, by the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), which granted it protection at the European level until December 31 of 2046. Beyond the European framework, this variety is also protected in the United States, Australia, and Israel.
The voluntary regularization of unauthorized plantations will last until December 31, 2019, for 20 euro/tree to be paid in 3 annual instalments without interest. Licenses for new plantations can be acquired until reaching the maximum limit of 700,000 plants, for 12 euro/tree and with the same payment facilities. The TEO emphasized again that the regularization of existing unauthorized plantations will not be accepted through the purchase of licenses for new plantations. From the end of June, TEO will require its sublicensees the certified information of the kilos produced during the 2019 campaign, so that the agreed quotas for the financing of the operations of the SRC can be invoiced as soon as the association has started its activity in January of 2020.
Characteristics of the Spring Sunshine premium variety
The Spring Sunshine mandarin variety is an induced mutation of the Murcott variety, obtained in the citrus improvement program of the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) of Israel. Currently, Spain is the only Mediterranean country authorized to produce Spring Sunshine apart from Israel, thus conferring an added value for its exclusivity.
Spring Sunshine is the latest variety of premium mandarin because of its attributes, reaching its optimum state of harvest between March and May in the northern hemisphere. At this time, the variety has a high juice content of over 50% with an exceptionally high and perfectly compensated content of sugars and acids, which give it an extraordinary flavor. Its skin has an intense orange color, can easily be peeled, and the fruits have little presence of seeds.
Anyone interested in acquiring a new license or visiting a commercial exploitation of the Spring Sunshine variety can contact The Enforcement Organization, SL (TEO) at +34 963 49 47 95.