Table grapes are a crop with a long tradition in the region of Los Palacios y Villafranca, where it has been grown for more than three centuries, and which generate a lot of employment. It is a traditional crop which, in order to survive, will need to rely on new technologies and adapt to the demands of new consumers, who increasingly prefer seedless fruit.
The local company Chronofruit, currently run by the siblings Antonio, Margarita and Isabel Amador Jiménez, is adhering to these trends with its 22 hectares of vineyards, which make them the largest producers of table grapes in the Seville region, with an annual harvest amounting to around one million kilos of different varieties, including Black magic, Cardinal, Victoria, Palieri and Red globe, with the latter being the last to be harvested.
This is the third generation of the family business, devoted to both the cultivation and marketing of grapes for fresh consumption, and since 2013 also a supplier to Mercadona, which purchases "between 15 and 20% of the production for its supermarkets," affirms Antonio Amador, head of the farm.
The continuous search for quality and innovation are basic for Chronofruit, which is always carrying out tests on new varieties and cultivation techniques in order to "differentiate our product and meet our customers' demands." At the moment, the company is testing "three new varieties of seedless grapes, plus another variety with seeds, but a very late one," reports the head of the farm. He assures us that "when we find one well suited to our type of soil and climate and which can guarantee the quality standards that we require, we will market it commercially."
Furthermore, the company plans to start growing its current grape varieties in greenhouses to have access to earlier production. "We will start the project by planting the variety Victoria under plastic, and if it goes well, we will continue with the Cardinal and Red globe. The objective is to reach the market about ten days earlier, which would be a commercial revolution," explains Antonio Amador.
Source: sevilla.abc.es
