The asparagus leaves its seasonal product niche
The presence of more than 160 participants, coming from 10 Countries of the world shows well the interest for the culture of the asparagus, long considered to be a culture niche. The production is in light growth and the possibilities in terms of consumption are large. Since 2000, the Europeans produce and consume more and more asparagus, but competition remains strong.
Among many of the topics discussed during the two-day work, there was focus on the discussion on the future of this culture which leaves its seasonal statute for positioning itself as a product to be consumed all year long. "We have a world production whose two hemispheres become complementary during the whole year. In Europe, thanks to the use of the forced farming techniques, we produce almost the totality of asparaguses in the first 6 months of the year."
The tradition of the European asparagus culture is consolidated and supported by many recognitions of Protected Geographical Indication obtained in Italy, France and Spain (Reg.Ce 510/2008).
The origin and the territory are determining factors for the European asparagus consumers who tend to privilege the local source.
The key points to develop the production and the market shares of this important culture were fixed at the time of the conference and include:
- the cost cutting of production and safeguard of the environment, considering that the culture is likely to decrease in front of the difficulty in finding labor.
- The genetic improvement whose objective is to determine the most productive varieties and most suited to automated harvest.
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