EVENTI

A North American based consortium, of which Driscoll's is a critical strategic partner, has completed the purchase of Costa Group, Australia’s leading grower, packer and marketer of fresh fruit and vegetables, focusing on specific projects to grow the global berry business.

In the Netherlands, a farm in North Brabant is building Europe's largest fruit and vegetable plant. It is a photovoltaic roof with a capacity of 8.7 MW. The innovation consists of placing the plants on elevated structures above a raspberry plantation.

The top three positions are occupied by Onubafruit, Fresón de Palos, and Arofa S.L. Onubafruit retains the top spot with 80,000 tonnes, although it reduced its quantity by 11%. In the same position as the previous year is Fresón de Palos, with a production of 65,000 tonnes.

F.lli Orsero has come up with a new packaging dedicated to the traditional market, alongside the classic trays: a unique package on the Italian market made of 100% recyclable paper, together with new dedicated corners for Fruttital stands in wholesale markets.

"The year 2024 started with a stabilisation of prices and an increase in consumption: we therefore open with optimism while waiting to see the production trends in spring and summer": in this exclusive interview with Italian Berry, Slomp comments on the 2023 Italian Berry and Gfk consumption trends.

The Italian Berry Retail Monitor survey took place this week on 20/02/2024 in the urban area of Milan and covered 20 points of sale of 19 brands belonging to 16 large-scale retail groups.

"The positive climate for berries continues for Italian families: now we need more courage and more emphasis on taste and formats": Carlo Lingua, managing director of RK Growers, thus comments on the half-yearly data on berries consumption updated by Italian Berry - GfK to 31/12/2023.

The mechanized harvesting of highbush blueberries presents a combination of advantages and challenges that are crucial for farmers to consider when deciding on their harvesting methods. Tomra recently launched a new module specifically designed to select machine harvested blueberries.

With a very short notice, one of the major German supermarkets has abruptly suspended the supply of blueberries sourced from Chile. Chilean operators are deeply concerned that this decision could have a snowball effect on other German retailers.

The berry retail offer in Genoa this week revealed a serious shortage of redcurrants, available in only three out of the 18 shops visited. The quality was generally unsatisfactory across the whole range, with prepacks on the shelves since the beginning of February.