One of Europe's largest berry producers, Huelva-based Alconeras, has been awarded the prestigious Fresón de Oro (Golden Strawberry) Award for 2003 in a ceremony sponsored by Junta de Andulusia, Ayuntamiento de Lepe, El Monte and others.

Alconeras Group was honoured for being a “model business, for its outstanding professionalism and for pioneering and developing new methods in planting material, production handling and soft fruit marketing”. It is being held up as a benchmark by strawberry growers in Huelva, says Alconera UK md Bill Ashby.

Accepting the award, Miguel Garrido professed to being delighted and genuinely touched by such a high accolade. The Garrido family has been involved with the soft fruit industry for more than 40 years and this award is seen as the culmination of many years worth of development, product innovation and marketing expertise.

Alconeras now has marketing offices in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Morocco. Under an exclusive agreement with Driscoll's Strawberry Associates of California (DSA), Alconeras also has access to new varietal material and has over 350 hectares of new plantings of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries for the 2003/04 season, as well as 80ha of citrus for its home market of Spain.

From the company's nurseries in Segovia, over 45 million plants are raised for production and full quality control is actively managed throughout the entire supply chain. Garrido says: “We are constantly investigating new varietal developments through DSA, but at the same time evaluating the majority of the new varieties that have come on stream in a dedicated test plot.”

The Fresón de Oro was the first addition to Alconeras trophy cabinet this year. The second is the award of the Doñana 21 Environmental Award, which is awarded for a responsible approach to the growing and care of the environment, for quality and for sustainable methods of growing crops. “The award recognises the company's efforts and is awarded for Alconeras' work in ensuring the preservation of the unique environment that surrounds the Parque Doñana,” Garrido says.

Ashby has already received the first raspberries of the new Spanish season and gave the Journal an overview of prospects for the season, across the soft-fruit category. “The first raspberries came in two weeks ago and like everything in Europe, the long, hot summer has had an effect on our growers in Spain,” he says. “The quality of the fruit is not a problem at all, but volumes have been a bit delayed.

“There has been a significant amount of plant death, a lot of canes suffered and the extent of the damage largely depended on the variety and the amount of shading that was used by the grower. Some growers are reporting as much as 40-50 per cent cane death. But while it may lead to slightly lower volume overall, there were more plantings this season and the UK programmes will remain unaffected.

“We will have high volumes through December and for the first time I can remember, through the peak Christmas period and beyond. Both in the UK and from an overall Alconeras point of view in European markets in general, I see Spain taking more and more of the winter berry business away from the southern hemisphere suppliers.”

The major raspberry varieties in Spain are Tulameen and Glen Lyon, while new DSA varieties have been planted extensively in both Spain and Portugal and will add to the marketing mix in the near future. “This is all very good news for the consumer,” says Ashby. “ We still do not have the best varieties of raspberry on the shelves all year round, but we are moving very quickly towards that. Within two years, the entire winter berry market will be transformed and that means the window closing rapidly on the South American exporters.

“Our partnership with Driscoll's and with KG Fruits in the UK has enabled all of us to get a real hold on the UK business. DSA has moved a lot of production to Mexico, to add to its enormous capacity in the southern states of the US. Mexico is its engine room and the vast majority of the raspberries on the UK market at this point in the year are from either Mexico or the US. Spain will start to take over in two to three weeks and in the next few seasons we will see that transition get earlier. As it is a partnership, there is no competition between the regions and as we move forward the developments in Spain will push it forward as the vital cog in our winter berry calendar.”

The strawberry crop is also looking promising, with a cooler period in October, which also featured some much-needed rain in Huelva, assisting establishment and allowing plants to be lifted on time. “Growers usually spend a lot of money on sprinklers and other irrigation systems at that time of year,” says Ashby, “but the rain has done much of that for them naturally and growers should have a better season because of that.

“The last three years have not been great for producers, but the long-range forecast is for a drier winter and spring, which should ensure consistent quality and a “normal” season for growers, if such a thing still exists.”

The emphasis in strawberry production, as with raspberries, is on tightening the offer with varieties that are better suited to the needs of customers and consumers alike. A large percentage of the Alconera crop is San Miguel, which represents a huge swing in a few, short years, and Ashby says UK demand could be met with this one variety alone, if that was what the buyers wanted.

However, a raft of new DSA varieties, all of which are numbers to this point, are in the commercial trial pipeline, and the aim of securing a 10-month season is nearer with each season. “We have a whole range of different varieties coming through for different programmes,” Ashby adds. “The numbers will become names in the US this year and in Europe next ñ once they have been successfully trialed. We do have something that we think could run from October through to the end of June, but it is still at the trial stage at the moment.

“The new varieties are being bred to offer better uniformity of size and similar or better levels of sweetness and flavour. Importantly, they are also grower-friendly. Of course, the primary focus is on the needs of the end consumer, but for production to be sustainable for the grower, they need to be economically viable as well.”

Alconeras has a separate 14ha blueberry production facility in Huelva, which is to double in size this year and again next. “Two-year old plants went in last year and they are looking very encouraging. The season starts in April and we are putting the work in and expect to see decent volumes in 2004. We are using shade clothing and tunnels to maximise the heat and increase yields, before taking the plastic off in the spring ñ optimising the growing environment throughout the cycle.”

Blackberries, which come in during May, has been another boom area, with some retailers in Europe experiencing the high points of their winter berry season when the blackberry crop is in full swing. “The market is growing for Alconeras and we have had some very good sales in the UK in the last couple of seasons. Because we are able to produce blackberries relatively cheaply, we are able to promote consistently at 99p a punnet, which is a price consumers are willing to pay. Sales volumes have actually outstripped those of the English product.”

The potential for Spanish fruit to remove southern hemisphere suppliers from the equation would obviously interest the food miles lobbyists, and is in line with the ethical standpoints of some UK retailers. Ashby believes there is a cut and dried case for sourcing closer to home ñ cost.

“Good fruit that isn't British, but is cheaper will always have an opportunity in the marketplace,” he says. “The extension of the European Union has the potential to alter the face of what happens in the UK in terms of soft-fruit buying. Eastern Europe has a long tradition of producing good fruit at low cost, although it has of course principally sold that into the frozen market.

“But development could see better varieties being produced across Europe and that will have an affect on English producers, as well as possibly Spanish producers. The cost of production will become even more of an issue in the years to come.”

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