In the Netherlands, it is almost time for the sweetcorn sowing season. "We're in the starting blocks," said Giel Hermans of Hermans Suikermais. "Unfortunately, the weather's not cooperating yet; it's too cold and wet. In 2023, we already had the first seedlings in the ground on March 26 and were
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In many ways jackfruit is a funny old fruit. This spiky tropical colossus is the largest tree fruit in the world, weighing up to 45kg and measuring as much as 100cm long. It has a distinctive, musky smell and an unusual flavour – said to be like a combination of apples, pineapples, mangoes,
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Rijk Zwaan has championed its Paxton RZ cauliflower variety as an option for growers facing up to the threat of the clubroot pathogen. read more

Avocado demand is growing, albeit at a somewhat slower pace than we’ve seen over the past decade. Where do you see the best opportunities to increase sales in Europe? read more

The Latin American Banana Sustainability Taskforce, a consortium of banana producers and exporters of Latin America, has criticised German discount group Lidl for selling a kilo of Rainforest Alliance-certified bananas for less than €1. read more

This is the message from leading Belgian fresh produce cooperative BelOrta. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today programme on 3 March, BelOrta CEO Phillippe Appeltans said: “We hope that in the coming weeks – as the quantities of our tomatoes, aubergines and so on are increasing – we
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Pink Lady and Kanzi are the world’s top 2 apple brands. Kanzi remains Europe’s second best-selling apple variety and continues to make ground in the US, new market research data shows. Rochelle Bohm, vice president of marketing a Kanzi, said that the 52-week Nielsen scan data indicates that
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Kakuzi has announced its 2023 financial results posting Kshs845.8m (US$6.4m) net profit for the financial year ended 31st December 2022, representing a 62 per cent after-tax profit growth. read more

According to research published by Eurostat, only 12% of the EU population consumed the recommended minimum of five portions of produce daily, partly because of the poor taste of the produce. read more

According to the Minister of Agriculture, Petra Berg, the registration forms will be available until 30 April. A later registration is no longer possible. According to Berg, the children in the participating institutions will receive free fruit and vegetables for a maximum of three days.
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In 2022, the total cultivation area (in the ground and under cover) of all berry species was 130,300 ha, while in 2021 it stood at 130,200 ha. This amounts to an increase of less than 1%. Compared to 2021, the cultivation area of raspberries increased by 9.1% (from 19.8 to 21.600 ha) and
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Recyclable packaging is the trend in fruit and vegetable marketing. In addition to full wrap labelling, Multivac now offers two other high-quality and sustainable labelling solutions for fresh produce trays. While with Top Wrap labelling a label from
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For more than 30 years, HLB Tropical Food GmbH has been marketing papayas, introducing them to customers in the US and Europe. “Before HLB, papayas in Europe mainly came in by boat, green, and without much taste,” says Lorenz Hartmann de Barros with HLB Tropical. “Then, in the 1990s, we
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Multivac offers two resource-saving solutions for the closing of fresh produce trays with labels with theirTop Wrap and Top Close labellers . At interpack 2023, Multivac will be presenting the new L 310 Top Wrap/Top Close conveyor belt labeler, which enables both labeling operations to be
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Of all the challenges facing banana growers in Latin America today, including Fusarium TR4 and climate change, the most profound problem is the lack of fair pricing, said the Guatemalan spokesperson for the Latin American Banana Task Force, Julio Mérida. read more

QS has established residue monitoring in order to precisely control the use of plant protection products in fresh fruit, vegetables and potatoes. What is important for the correct sampling in monitoring? The QS Academy answers these and other questions in its practical courses.
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Several cutting-edge projects will receive a share of £9.13 million in British government funding. Among other things, the funding will support projects developing robotic crop harvesting for horticulture, and a more environmentally-friendly approach to potato cultivation. read more

Combimetal Carrera, a leading company from southern Italy specializing in the production and setting up of steel structures and manufacturer of innovative systems for the production of soilless strawberries, has developed a new cart for the harvesting of strawberries and berries.  read more

The demands in the fruit and vegetable market are becoming ever higher. Added to this is the enormous price pressure. In the marketing chain, the focus is not only on the product and the article, but increasingly also on processes and resources. A market participant must therefore not only focus on his
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Campojoyma has committed to the cultivation of organic Chinese cabbage since its creation in 2004. "This crop contributes to the sustainable development of the interior of the province of Almería, in particular the municipalities of Abla and Abrucena, on the northern slopes of the Sierra
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