Red orchards
To give you an idea of how much Spain grew on the flat peach market, just think that the country went from producing 4,500 tons in 2002 to 270 thousand tons in 2016 on a total area of 15,000 hectares (Italy is in second place and only has 470 hectares).
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"In 20 years, we have doubled our peach production and halved our apple production. We are the only country that can supply peaches from April to November and this year, for the first time, we will harvest more volumes than Italy."
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"When we started investing in flat peaches two decades ago thanks to genetic improvement and Italian and US breeding programmes, we took a huge risk, because processing plants had to be adapted to this type of fruit. Nowadays, 95% of the flat peaches on the market come from Spain."
"We call them red orchards," explains Ignasi showing pictures of Spanish orchards. This enormous success could however turn problematic very quickly should the market change. "If this market collapses, we are ruined."
Problematic elements
The signals of a "perfect storm", where everything that could go wrong did go wrong, showed themselves already in 2014 and 2015. Ignasi Iglesias analysed a few problematic elements.
"Producers often graft something different every year to keep up with varietal innovation, but it is not the right choice. The IRTA institute works precisely to test new cultivars and select the ones that work best for producers." Another problem is the fact that new selections are very early, but they could be affected by the fact that frost is becomming increasingly common in production areas.
Another problem is the lack of training for labourers (mainly immigrants), which leads to them thinking cultivars are ripe when they actually are not. "Harvesters see big, red fruit and think they are ready, but they are far from ripe. IRTA is working on new methods to identify when peaches are ripe."
In the meantime, varietal innovation went hand in hand with a drop of consumption on the domestic market, due to the fact that there are tastier alternatives at a lower price (e.g. Fashion watermelons).
The future lies in flat nectarines
According to Ignasi Iglesias Castellarnau, breeding innovations should go hand in hand with producer needs. At the moment, Spain is exporting 70% of the flat peaches it produces because, while it is competitive in terms of costs, domestic consumption dropped. Profits for producers have also dropped with respect to twenty years ago, which is another aspect that should not be underestimated.
"We still have to improve a lot. From Italy, we need to take their mechanisation of plants, from France, we must take their 'food patriotism'. We are strong producers but not good promoters."
"To guarantee the future of these fruits, we need to look at children and the younger generations. Smaller fruit that does not need to be peeled is perfect for them. I believe platerina, i.e. flat nectarines, are the future of this sector."
The evolution of fruit consumption. Above: yesterday; below: today and tomorrow.
"There is still a lot to do for what concerns varietal improvement. The latest selections seemed promising but it turned out they were not very good in the medium term. Flat nectarines need to be analysed for 4 years to verify that they maintain their characteristics. Another species that is growing in Spain is the red-peeled apricot."
To conclude, we can say the elements to make flat peach cultivation profitable are: scheduled transplants, market-oriented innovation, easy-to-eat formats, less improvisation, improved supply management and a lower number of cultivars.
Author: Rossella Gigli
Copyright: www.freshplaza.it