The colder areas of the Spanish Levant are also recording increasingly hotter winters. Due to this warmer weather, pests are becoming stronger. In addition to this, phytosanitary products are being replaced by more ecological solutions. In the end, growers are dealing with significantly higher costs.
"The costs of phytosanitary products have increased by 50%, and pests are more resistant," says Andrés Jódar, sales manager of Viveros Jódar. "The heat is making them stronger. We have problems, especially with the green mosquito and red spider mite. We are forced to use more treatments, and even so, it is difficult to get rid of them," he says.
"In the past, we had different products, and fewer treatments were necessary; just once every 20 days. Now they are needed every week. There's a very remarkable lack of cold. The last time I saw snowfall was in 2021, and it used to be normal to see it every winter," says the manager.
The company has 400 hectares of crops that were not significantly damaged by the spring hailstorms. In total, it produces 1.5 million plants per year, mainly stone fruit. The company is also devoted to vegetable growing. "We work with lettuce and summer broccoli, because we are in a cold area. We start at the beginning of spring and continue until the end of fall."
"Our stone fruit production consists mostly of apricots and peaches. We annually harvest 2 million kilos of each. The most popular fruits are Pavia peaches, flat peaches, and red peaches. We don't work with nectarines because there are strong winds here and the skin wouldn't withstand that."
Regarding platerinas, "We sell the plant and we see it is becoming quite popular, but nectarines are still the flagship product because we already know how to handle it, more varieties are being introduced, and growers are trying them out."
As for the fruit that is best suited to face the current challenges, Jódar says: "I believe that the best against pests and production problems is the Pavia peach, the oldest traditional variety from Cieza. The domestic market wants yellow peaches, while Europe demands nectarines and flat peaches, but this traditional peach variety continues to play a very important role."
The manager stresses that the products' flavor also depends on the quality of the water. They use "water from springs and the one stored in winter, which contains few salts, and the fruit benefits from this. Growers must take good care of every aspect, and the water supply is a fundamental one."
For more information:
Andrés Jódar
Viveros Jódar
Tel.: +34 618 82 21 27
[email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/viverosjodar