"The difficulties in growing organic courgettes due to virosis in the field are testing us, but we're responding with appropriate agronomic measures to continue to guarantee production quality for our commercial partners," says Roberto Giadone, President of Natura Iblea, an Italian company that grows and markets certified organic horticultural products, while announcing the start of the harvest season.
Roberto Giadone
"The weather conditions during the summer and up to the last few days," Giadone explains, "have caused an exceptional spread of virosis (TLCND-ed.) on courgettes in southern Italy. In order to obtain a product of the highest quality, Natura Iblea has adopted some specific techniques, both agronomic and post-harvest. In the field, we must choose the right varieties, free of viral contamination. After the harvest, the use of ozone can result in a product that is in compliance with the quality requirements of international markets."
For many years now, Natura Iblea has held a very prominent position in Europe in the production and packaging of organic, biodynamic and Bio Suisse certified courgettes. The company serves one of the most important customer bases in Europe with 4,700,000 packages of organic courgettes per year, from October to June.
"Even when we had fixed-price, fixed-quantity supply contracts," the manager points out, "our company has always satisfied the customer. We've never let the goods out of stock. Even in the period of the market crisis, when prices were very high, we have maintained the fixed price and the fixed quantity. For the 2023/24 courgette production campaign in southern Italy, we are expecting a decrease in volume of about 30%. However, we are maintaining production rates and even expecting a slight increase in organic courgette production of 7%. This increase will be achieved in part by partnering with Cesena-based BullTech, which designed a new line for Natura Iblea to calibrate, weigh and pack zucchini. There will be no possibility of damaged or underweight fruit with these new machines."
"As an example", concludes Giadone, "I'd like to mention the harvesting and packing performance of the current week, the 42nd of the year. At the end of it, we'll have shipped about 112 pallets of organic courgettes all over Europe, reaching more than 7 different European countries with our German, English and French-speaking operators."