The group, which was led by Agrexco UK sales manager John Fox included Nick Kelly from AFI, Bob Taylor from Sharrocks and Mark Woodier from John Henshalls, Manchester. Assaf Adar, product manager Agrexco Tel Aviv, escorted the party, arranging visits to growers specialising in varying methods of strawberry production. First port of call was to visit Goodman, a grower with long standing associations with Agrexco. " Goodman has started to convert his fields to glasshouses in order to increase his strawberry production and to obtain maximum volume of quality fruit," said Fox. "The extreme weather conditions of last winter had a disastrous effect on the entire strawberry crop predominately grown in tunnels. By changing over to glass, Goodman will be able to pick the fruit regardless of weather, thereby keeping up continuous supply."
Goodman has also changed techniques to get better yields and in addition to Hadas and Tamar, he is cultivating Yuval, a berry still in experimental stages and not widely available commercially. "It is a new variety that Agrexco hopes to patent before selling the plants abroad," said Fox. Nick Kelly from AFI was particularly interested. "Being in the catering sector, Yuval is perfect for us," said Kelly. "It is a medium sized berry, no misshapes, uniform in shape, quality and taste, plus the fact it has a longer shelf life."
The delegation also visited Gaza, to see the station set up by Agrexco to bring in strawberries from the Gaza Strip, all under the Coral brand, mainly to the Continent and some to the UK and met with Ami Sella, who grows hydroponically using the table top crop system. "Our final visit was to meet with Porat Harel who deploys the open field system, using tunnels," said Fox. "He also uses Bio Bee, a natural organic insect repellent to cut down on the use of pesticides, to promote a safer, friendlier product."
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