UK soft-fruit marketing specialist Berry Gardens is meeting this week with Spanish producer Primaflor to discuss commercialisation of increasing volumes of pioneering Almería grown strawberries.
Nick Marston, md of Berry Gardens, told freshinfo: “We have been taking Festival strawberries from Primaflor’s 4ha of hydroponic production in Almeria for a couple of years. Primaflor is also running commercial trials of Driscoll variety El Dorado and smaller trials of other Driscoll varieties. They have a definite interest in increasing production and we are meeting with them this week.”
Primaflor - which is better known as a salads grower - has been working on strawberry production trials for at least five years. Marston said: “There is good potential because of the good climate in Almería, Primaflor, substrate growing system and most of all the high light levels which means the region is able to come into production in December, before fruit from Huelva comes on stream and at a time in the season increasingly being supplied by Egypt.”
Meanwhile, Primaflor has also just signed an agreement with regional research and development organisation Ifapa to investigate efficient irrigation techniques and maximisation of water resources. The budget for the new project is €165,000 (£153,000) of which Primaflor is contributing 40 per cent.
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