Israeli produce giant Agrexco is placing a big emphasis on organic salad products for the forthcoming season, with a planned total increase of 49 per cent on all tomato lines and 35 per cent on peppers.

Steve Hopkins, sales manager at Agrexco UK, told FPJ: “Demand for organic salad lines has risen continually, and we have increased our production areas to accommodate this. In addition to the traditional growing regions in the Arava desert and the Northern Dead Sea areas, we have new production areas in the Negev region, around 100 kilometres south of Tel Aviv.

“This increase in production is not just down to the additional volume planted for the standard lines such as cherry tomatoes, cherry on the vine, baby plum tomatoes, ramiro and bell peppers, but also new varieties such as Conical Sweet and Sweet Bite peppers and baby plum tomato varieties on the vine. Growers have seen the potential in extending growing areas, and have responded accordingly.”

Agrexco has also made investments in cooling systems in the Arava region, which will allow some growers to harvest earlier than normal, according to Hopkins.

“Small quantities of Ramiro are now available and we should be seeing bell peppers in a week or so,” he adds. “With tomatoes, we will start with cherry and cherry on the vine during week 41, with large vine and cocktail tomatoes to follow a couple of weeks later.”

Topics