On Tuesday, 26 September, the 'Gil Program Annual Event' was held at G-Berries in Cesena. The all-day event was a meeting opportunity for operators and experts in the berries sector from different parts of the world with a programme entirely dedicated to varietal development.
The first part of the event took place at the company's new breeding centre, 'Cerchia 2'.
"This will become the main centre for the breeding programmes. Here we will be able to follow all stages of the plant, right up to the final moment when we will select the valid material for the final tests," explains Matteo Molari. "As of today, you can only see the first tunnels, but 100% finished it will have 20 rows in total.
"The main aspect of this site is that, in addition to being only a few kilometres from the headquarters, we were able to build it right next to the city canal. This allows us to have constant access to the water supply".
"Our plan was to be able to complete it by 2023. Unfortunately, as we know, due to the flood and some bureaucratic issues we were forced to postpone. We are really glad that today you can see how hard we are working to bring the best possible product to market. We really wanted to show you where we are heading in the future,' Luca Molari concluded.
The second part of the morning took place at the company's headquarters. Upon returning from the tour of the new centre, participants were greeted by a panel test of 8 different selections from G-Berries' breeding programmes.
An integral part of the afternoon programme was devoted to novelties and presentations. G-Berries displayed all the news concerning the new selections, together with the presentation of a partnership with the Australian family-owned company Mountain Blue for the development of new experimental fields.
"Last year we introduced Mountain Blue to our selections and since then we have been following and supporting their company in all aspects of the development process," said Luca and Matteo.
The final note of the day was dedicated to a new opportunity for the sector: the proposal of a new project that could come to life during the future edition of Macfrut 2024.
"The idea would be to create a real space dedicated entirely to small fruits right inside Macfrut, focusing especially on blueberries and raspberries. We are very enthusiastic about this opportunity and hope to create a real window of innovation for the sector".
