So just how do you solve a problem like Picota? The variety grown exclusively under protected denomination of origin status in the Valle del Jerte, Extremadura, is universally lauded in the south-west Spanish region as the best-tasting, most durable and easily marketable variety in the extensive cherry portfolio.
It represents less than 25 per cent of the valley’s production potential, but it is undeniably seen as the jewel in its crown, and ticks all the environment friendliness and provenance boxes for consumers in the UK.
Yet, purely because of its size - typically between counts 21 and 24 - Picota has been unceremoniously dumped in the “cheap” category by supermarket buyers around Europe.
This year, as certain UK supermarkets indulge in a little recession-busting chicanery, co-operatives are being asked to pack in 250g punnets for the first time, to hit a barely credible £1-a-punnet price point. And not surprisingly, it’s hurting. This being a “normal” season production-wise, the market will see around 8,000 tonnes of cherries produced under the protected Picota name, but growers warn that the pressure they are being put under will have a detrimental effect on their future if it is maintained beyond this campaign.
Constantino Tierno, who heads up Agrupación de Cooperativas Valle del Jerte - the valley’s largest cherry co-operative and the biggest packer of cherries in Europe - says: “We are, of course, aware that there is an economic crisis across Europe, but when you have a product like ours, there should still be sufficient demand.
“I am not sure that the low price platform is particularly positive for Picota in the long term. Of course, I understand that it is a small variety and that to sell more volume can be seen as a good thing, but we believe Picota should be positioned as a premium variety. In my opinion, the price point at which Picota is sold makes very little difference to sales volumes. At £1 a punnet, sales may go up by five or 10 per cent in one supermarket chain, but that in no way compensates for the drop in the price and the added pressure that the radical change of dealing with 250g punnets is putting on growers and packers here in Valle del Jerte,” Tierno adds.
The domestic market and German retailers - the two largest consumers of Picota - have not made significant changes to their punnet specifications, but other markets have asked for their punnet sizes to be reduced, only to be rebuffed. This, says Tierno, is a reflection of the long-standing importance of the UK to Picota growers. “The margins are a lot tighter for everyone this year, not just in the UK, but the weakness of sterling has impacted on our growers,” he explains. “We have invested a lot of money in the UK over the years and we are determined to maintain our market position - largely, you do what the market wants, and we are not going to pull out just because we are asked to pack in different punnets. But we do hope that when this economic situation turns around, we will be in a position to benefit.”
At Cooperative del Campo, the co-op that packs and markets cherries for grower families living in and around the town of Navaconcejo, Nicolás Morales Martîn says: “Picota is a tough cherry to market. If you were not aware of the perceptible difference in taste, then you could be forgiven for perhaps buying a larger, plumper cherry on appearance. But eat a Picota, and it is a totally different experience.”
His co-op has also been subject to the peculiar demands of UK retailers this season. “It remains profitable for us,” says Morales. “We would not do it otherwise. But we have had to modify our machines and it is more labour intensive, so we would be happier if this is a temporary change.”
Tierno says that this season’s price point is unsustainable, and grower Jesús Olmedo at Finca La Casería agrees wholeheartedly. “How can it be profitable for me to be making 60 euro cents (51p) a kilo for my cherries, when the retailers are selling them at €3 and even €4 a kilo?” he asks, referring primarily to the on-shelf prices in Spain. “It is simply unsustainable that the cost structure for growers and the co-operative increases and the demands put on us by the customers also increase, but the amount of money we receive for our fruit reduces.
“As growers, it is extremely difficult. Turkey operates with a cost base around five times lower than ours and that makes it very difficult for us to compete,” he claims. “Governments should step in and limit the profits that supermarkets are able to make, or at least the differential between the farm-gate price and the retail price. We have a lovely crop this season and we should be looking forward to a decent return, but we cannot say that we are.”
To its credit, the industry is doing something to rectify the perceived problem. Marco Manzano Muñoz is running a trial site, partly funded by the local government, which embarked on the search for a larger strain of Picota two years ago. Success or otherwise is still a few years down the line, but trials are being carried out using 16 different types of rootstock and more than 100 varieties selected to cross with one of the four indigenous Picota varieties.
Although researchers are conditioned to work with no preconceived ideas about what might work best, Manzano believes the dominant Picota strain, Ambrunes, will almost certainly play a part. Most of the varieties selected for crossing are Canadian.
“This is a very new venture and we have not intervened [in the growth of the trees] at all yet,” Manzano explains. “What we do from now depends very much on how each tree performs, but we will wait and watch them grow. As well as increasing count size, we are looking for a Picota that produces a bit later in the season and, of course, we would want to enhance texture, eating characteristics and agronomic factors wherever we can.”
A genetic bank houses germoplasm of all of the cherry varieties grown in Extremadura, protecting the tradition and heritage of Picota. “We are also collaborating with a research centre in Zaragoza and we have agreements with other cherry research centres in Spain to both preserve our history and shape our future,” says Manzano.
“There is definitely a lack of awareness of the taste profile of Picota against other varieties and for growers here, it is the one variety that gives them a real point of difference in the marketplace. In many ways, we are lucky that Picota really does not adapt to being grown elsewhere - 97 per cent is grown in the Valle del Jerte and the rest just to the north in Avila, which cannot be labelled Picota.”
Another issue facing the local growing community, however, is an increasing volume of fake Picota in the Spanish market. “There is a big market in Spain for Picota types or lookalikes, and plenty of people are willing to try and take advantage of that. And the French in particular are working hard to develop their own stalkless varieties to compete with Picota, so it is extremely important that we do this work,” says Manzano.
After a relatively tight couple of months, the cherry market has filled up again in recent weeks as volume moves in from Turkey. The first Picota is already in the UK, having been picked 10 days ahead of schedule, and it has arrived onto a tricky market. However, says Tierno, the lateness of the Picota crop normally puts it in a strong position. “Although there are a lot of cherries in the market at the moment, the sources we compete with are also early and as Picota carries on later, our growers should do well later in the season [when the volume from elsewhere dies down].”
In his orchard, Olmedo is unsure and reverts back to the root of the long-term problem, for which he has the same solution as most. “All we can do is differentiate Picota for its taste attributes and in the longer term attempt to increase the count size and hope that this will enable us to position Picota where it should be in the cherry category - at the higher end of the price scale,” he says.
Tierno concludes: “If I could sell Picota for €5 a punnet, then of course I would, but it is hard to move away from the issue of size. When we have a consistently larger-sized crop, then we can ask for more money.”
CAMPAIGN PUTS CHERRY ON TOP
The Picota cherry promotional campaignin the UK was part of the integrated Foods from Spain marketing campaign that won the Pr3 Marketing Campaign of the Year award at Re:fresh in May.
The campaign underlines the provenanceof the fruit - produced by family farmers only in the Valle del Jerte area of the Extremadura region - and their protection by denomination of origin status, under the Cereza de Jerte Denomination of Origin Regulatory Council.
This year, the core messages will be carried in advertorial articles and advertisingin women’s, lifestyle and food consumer magazines, as well as on the food website, Delia Online. They will also feature in radio interviews with Foods from Spain director María José Sevilla and other PR activity, including sampling of Picota at the Children’s Food Festival at the end of June.
Up-and-coming celebrity chef José Pizarro has developed a series of simple recipes, which will be included in an information booklet in packs of Picota in several major retailers during the season. The booklet also features a competition to win a holiday to the Valle del Jerte.
Other activity in store includes advertising Picota cherries at the point of sale and on in-store radio.
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