A group of French growers, plant breeders and distributors have formed a company to market a family of branded apple varieties which will need just half the spraying and treatments applied to other apple crops.
SAS Pomalia will release the first stocks of its Naturiane-branded varieties Ariane and Doriane on November 29.
With this season’s 830-tonne crop safely in store, UK retailer Marks & Spencer is taking the largest proportion of the crop - 150 tonnes - over the coming months. The remaining volume will go to French, Belgian and Luxembourg multiples as well as Rungis and four German wholesalers.
As well as apples, retailers will benefit from marketing support in the form of T-shirts, mobiles, recipe leaflets and in-store tastings. These are all themed with the vibrant red of Ariane and the blushing gold tones of Doriane.
The fruit itself will all carry a Naturiane-branded sticker in the same bright colours and be delivered in cardboard trays to match. This season’s budget of €100,000 is being funded by all the members of the Pomalia club. Next season, the 2005-06 marketing budget will be funded by a levy on growers against the weight of fruit sold.
This will pay for the development of branded consumer packs, primarily for the French market, but with a possible application in the UK and Ireland.
The origins of this long-term project go back to a plant-breeding programme co-ordinated by a selection committee drawn from all the partners involved: 17 nurseries working with R&D bodies CTIFL and INRA, the growers' association Novadi and the marketing arm Pomalia.
There are now 125,000 trees, with a projected target of 220,000 by the end of 2005 and by 2007 production should have reached 8,000-9,000t.
Ariane variety accounts for 96 per cent of the plantings and is derived from Florina x Prima x Semis Golden. It has been developed by INRA and is naturally resistant to mycosis. It has a high sugar content, around 14-15 degrees brix, and acidity is well balanced at between 9-10g/l of malic acid. The fruit is firm with pressure of 7-8kg/0.5cm2.
The six distributors involved are Loire Allia, Castang, Blue Whale, Cosama Berry, Sicodis and Edenys. They will be shipping the fruit in 60x40cm as well as 50x30cm trays.
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