HAVE A NICE DAY
Hadiklaim Date Growers’ Cooperative, founded in 1982, consolidates the activities of Israel’s largest and more advanced date producers. Of the estimated 19,000 metric tonnes of dates grown in Israel each year, Hadiklaim growers account for approximately 80 per cent of production, which includes 13 per cent organic. Some members are large kibbutzim while others are small or medium-sized private growers, often family-run businesses that have been date growers for generations. This ancestral expertise in the caring for date palms is passed on from generation to generation, and is not the only advantage the Israeli growers have; the geography and climate of the region is ideal for date production and dates have grown in the area since biblical times.
Hadiklaim growers’ date farms stretch the length of Israel, from the Sea of Galilie to the Dead Sea region and from the Arava Desert to Beit Shean Valley. Their main packhouses are based in Zemach Tmarim near the Kineret, Tamar Shean in Beit Shean and Ardom Tmarim in Eilat. “Complementing the growing traditions, the growers have adopted advanced agricultural methods and equipment,” says marketing manager Micha Kestecher. “This combination of ancient knowledge and modern technology puts the co-operative far ahead of other facilities, and we can produce dates that set industry standards in quality, appeal and consumer satisfaction.
“To open the season, some of the fruit was airfreighted,” explains Kestecher, “and new crop shipments started in late September to Felixstowe.” Hadiklaim exports 50-60 per cent of its date production to more than 30 countries, in particular to Western Europe, North America, East Asia and Australia. Some of Hadiklaim’s largest customers are UK retail chains, where the dates are sold under several brand-names. Most prominently, Medjoul dates are sold under the King Solomon brand, while Jordan River remains the quality symbol for numerous date varieties and the Jordan River Bio-Top brand appears on all the organic products.
Date products are grouped into fresh dates, natural dates and soft dates. Fresh dates, such as Barhi and Hayani, have a shelf life of only 6-10 days outside refrigeration. Natural dates are packed in their natural state, with no sweeteners or additives. Dates in this group, such as Medjoul and Deglet Nour, have a long shelf life of up to three months. Soft dates are preserved or otherwise processed and have a shelf life of up to 12 months. Varieties in this group include Amari, Halawi, Hadrawi and Deri dates. Additionally, the dedicated organic date plantations and packhouses are all under the supervision of the Israel Bio-Organic Association, Agrior. The harvesting of organic dates runs from early August to the end of October with the first to be harvested the fresh varieties followed by the semi-dry and dry varieties.
Of the 15,500mt of dates produced by the Hadiklaim growers, close to 4.500t are Medjoul dates, followed by the yellow Barhi (first to mature) and 3,000t of Hayami. “This year we have good quality dates because of the good weather. Summer was not extreme and temperature fluctuations between night and day were not so drastic. The maturation was prolonged, which from a logistic point of view is not ideal since we want to get new season fruit to the market as soon as possible. However, the whole process of fruit maturation has been better - the fruit is bigger, has better appearance and moisture levels are good,” says Kestecher.
The UK market is important to the group and growing steadily yearly, in particular with Medjoul and Barhi varieties as well as organic Medjoul, he continues. Several of the main UK supermarkets are customers. “We supply Tesco almost directly to the depot, and with others we act more like category managers. For instance, with Waitrose we provide a wide range of varieties and items - this Christmas there will be seven to eight varieties and categories at Waitrose. We work with Marks & Spencer in a similar way. In addition, we work with distributors for Sainsbury’s and Morrison -- so we cover 90 per cent of the UK supermarkets.
“Our UK strategy is to develop the supermarket relationships and establish year-round programmes for our date varieties to see our supply increase year-on-year. Nevertheless, we do not neglect the major wholesale markets in the UK and Ireland,” he says.
For Christmas, there will be new packaging protecting the dates on offer to UK consumers. “The packaging is of higher quality, a better selection of dates are available and the eating quality of the dates has improved. These changes have come about because we have changed the variety allocation in the plantations, and we now harvest differently so as to meet the produce our customers demand - Medjoul dates are handpicked individually to ensure both good sugar content and moisture levels, and pick the ideal sizes,” he says. The group is working in conjunction with the UK supermarkets for Christmas promotions due to appear on the shelves from mid-November.
Kestecher believes that the popularity of Medjoul dates will continue to rise. “Over the last five to six years, Mejdoul were popular mainly among certain ethnic groups in the UK, but this has changed. More consumers have introduced dates into their every day diets, rather than buying them at certain times of the year only - in the run-up to Christmas to decorate Christmas trees. They are now consumed year round and form part of the culinary diet, mainly due to their friendly texture, appearance and softness.”
MERRY MTEX
Mehadrin Tnuport Export (MTEX), Israel’s largest grower and exporter of citrus, will be sending to the UK this winter its full range of citrus fruit. The hurricane devastation to Florida and Cuban citrus producers has provided an opportunity for MTEX to increase citrus exports in order to meet the supply shortfall, as well as meet the strong demand for grapefruit. “In white grapefruit there will be an increase of 25 per cent in exports,” says Dov Warmen, MTEX’s UK managing director, “and even though the red grapefruit crop is lower by 10-15 per cent, we are trying hard to send more fruit to the UK.”
The growing conditions in Israel have been ideal for citrus especially during the blooming period. The UK represents one third of Israel’s exports on average, and this season there will be an increase of 20-25 per cent in the category in comparison to 2003. MTEX has long-standing relationships with the major UK supermarkets as the leading supplier of the Jaffa brand, and 80-90 per cent of the fruit supplied is already pre-packed.
In grapefruit supplies, White Marsh, Sunrise and Pomelo have been on offer from late September. For Israeli oranges Newhall, Shamouti and Valencia Late are being sent as well as Suntina, Minneola, Or and Mor in the soft citrus category. Warmen says that of these, the most popular in the UK, which are also showing signs of growth, are Or and Mor easy peelers.
As well as citrus, MTEX will export mangoes, avocado and sharonfruit to the UK over the winter months. “Demand for all three products has risen this season but in particular, avocado volumes will be up by 25 per cent this season.”
SEEDS REIGN IN SPAIN
Zeraim Gerber Seed Group has had a breakthrough in its variety trials in Spain. Marketing manager Amnon Eshet says there has been great progress with two new lines currently being trialed in Spain for commercial viability. One is the sweet, red or yellow, blocky pepper. He says: “This is really great for us and we are very excited - we have managed to win significant market share this year with our blocky pepper. Trials were done last winter and this year the vegetable is being grown commercially.” The blocky pepper characteristics are described as high yielding plants with a long shelf life, which is well adapted for early harvest in November or December. The pepper plant is vigorous, firm with thick walls and a good tolerance to cracking. All Spanish-based variety trials are overseen by the group’s Spanish office, Zeraim Iberica.
To add to the pepper success, Zeraim has greatly increased its market share in cherry tomato production in Spain. “We are in an excellent position now in Spain, which is an important growing region for produce destined for the UK,” says Eshet. “In addition, we have introduced a tomato variety that can resist Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV) disease, which usually destroys a high percentage of yields in Spain. The new hybrid varieties are being trialed in threes regions - Murcia, Almeria and the Canary Islands.” This is another breakthrough for Zeraim, says Eshet, especially with new EU legislation prohibiting the use of many chemicals. “The use of TYLCV resistant tomatoes reduces the need to use chemical treatments against the White Fly (Bemisia tabaci) that transmits it. The TYLCV resistant varieties were developed through hybridisation of different varieties of wild plants with cultured varieties of tomato, reducing losses from the disease.”
Reviewing the trials for seedless watermelons, Zeraim has decided to focus on two varieties - the round, tiger-stripe rind pattern, in a light or dark green rind, weighing from 1.75 to 2kg. Eshet describes its characteristics as a high-quality fruit with a high sugar content, low susceptibility to hollow heart and a uniform fruit, preferred in the UK. For the US market the Crimson Sweet Type is being tested. It is an oval-shaped melon with thick stripes, sweet in flavour, with a good keeping quality and low susceptibility to hollow heart, and can be grown in the open-field or for tunnel production. Eshet says: “We decided to focus on these two because they are well known by consumers in Europe and the US. Both watermelons are not yet commercially grown but there are plans to do so for the 2005 European winter. The trials are taking place in melon-growing regions around the world - Spain, Central America, and northern Brazil - as we want to have year-round supply of the melons and build a network of growers so that we can supply a reliable source of these varieties to the UK supermarkets.
He adds: “This network build is difficult and takes time. We have to be very careful in choosing our growers. We are working in co-operation with our distributors in these countries.”
When developing varieties, Eshet says the focus is on high-end markets such as northern Europe, the UK and US. “Since the domestic market is small, we need to focus on the larger economies.” He adds: “The seed is only the vehicle; we work on developing the variety. It has taken time to understand the Spanish growing market and buyer’s needs and to focus the breeding to those needs. It’s a very long process.”
A NEW SEASON FOR ARAVA
There has been a change in top-level management at Arava Exporter Growers this season. New managing director Motti Leven has taken over the helm as of September 1, bringing with him years of experience from his work in the irrigation industry. The company is moving on and forward, explains UK marketing manager David Crossland. “With the change in management comes a change in our focus; we have always been customer/grower focused but now the balance will favour our global customers. The changes are evolving but we are already fine-tuning our paperwork methods to make things easier for them, such as reports and confirmations before goods arrive. It will be a natural development, but we needed to simplify things and wanted it to be easier and more straightforward for our customers.”
With over 200 producers, growing is mainly based in the Arava Valley but also throughout Israel, depending on the product. “This gives us a safer supply base, without having to rely on one region solely,” says Crossland.
“This year, there has been a significant decline in the tomato acreage, 20-22 per cent over the year, because of poor returns to growers, which will affect volumes. In turn, growers have increased the land dedicated to growing round, sweet peppers, which have been returning better prices. The herb acreage has also risen to meet the increase in demand,” says Crossland. “Herbs are growing at a quick pace, especially in continental Europe. The UK market prefers basil, ruccola and chives, which are all on the rise, while a few years back, coriander would have been in the top three - its demand has dropped and the demand for ruccola risen, reflecting consumers’ tastes.”
This winter Arava will supply the UK with 14,500-15,000 tonnes of pepper - red, yellow and orange capsicum, 2,500t of herbs - 23 varieties to service retailers, food service and catering, and 800t less in tomatoes at 4,000t for the supermarkets - Aranca, cherry and on-the-vine cherry. Crossland says: “The growing conditions have been very good; the plants went in on time, have a good frame and started to set well. It has been a far easier autumn with milder temperatures. We have had a very good start, and the plants have performed very well, so the quality looks encouraging. The season will start on time for most items, and may even be four or five days early for some.”
The other big change for the company is the introduction of the Agrosafe system, now adopted by its growers, providing an opportunity for them to computerise their records. Crossland says for the next stage, clients will have access to the growers’ records online. He explains that growers will enter their information into the system in Hebrew, which is then instantly translated into English and several other languages. “The system has been rolled out to all the growers after trials took place to debug the system. All things going well, we hope our clients will be given access in 12 months time. We can easily broadcast information to the growers now, and it gives the grower a better management system, and us the ability to monitor what they are doing. Ultimately the client will have the same opportunity 24/7 in real-time.”
With all the recent changes to Arava, Crossland says it is too early to reveal the future plans for the company; he only suggests that we “watch this space.”
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