This week has been marked by the official start of the asparagus campaign in both La Rioja and Navarre. La Rioja growers have harvested the first asparagus, whose growth has been pushed by the warm temperatures of March, but, as explained by Inmaculada Martínez, a producer from Alcanadre, "the rains this weekend have slowed the process down somewhat. Some asparagus came out in early March, but the campaign is taking place more or less in the same dates as in previous years," explains this Riojan producer.
The Regulatory Council, which includes farms in Navarre, Aragon and La Rioja, expects the registered acreage to increase by at least 200 hectares compared to last year, when there were 1,282 plots registered; all this despite the emerging countries that are also growing the product. "China and Peru used to be big names, but now a lot of asparagus is also being planted in some areas of Africa," states Inmaculada, warning that the qualities of the production from these countries bears no relation to those of the local asparagus.
Her family has 3.5 hectares in Alcanadre. "My husband's family had always cultivated asparagus; they were the last to abandon them back in the 90's and the first to plant them again now," she recalls. It was in 2008 when they decided to bet on asparagus again. "The first year it is allowed to sprout without harvesting the product and in the second year you can harvest half of the crop, even though we didn't, so this will be our eighth season," she explains.
This year, a very good quality is expected, according to the Regulatory Council, and the fact is that many growers have given asparagus a second chance in the past two years. This week, according to statistics drawn up by the regional government, the first asparagus have been sold for a price at origin of 3.25 Euro per kilo; a similar level to that recorded in previous campaigns.
Source: larioja.com
