Well-Pict European offers a bigger choice of varieties out of Spain for UK retailers.

Rasberries:
Quality on the whole has been very good and growers have planted more this year. The main variety we have been working has been Glen Lyon, even though we will be working some Tulameen from April onwards. Sales have been consistent throughout Europe and many growers are diversifying their crop, increasing their raspberry production and producing fewer strawberries. The same can be applied to blueberries where sales throughout Europe are on the increase and we anticipate good volumes from mid March onwards.

Strawberries:

This year will be an a typical season as there are more varieties to offer our customers in the UK. Last year, small trials were conducted in varieties that growers believed could be an alternative to Camarosa and this year has been carried out on a much larger scale. The alternative varieties are predominantly Honor, candonga, festival, Chiflon and Ventana with the most positive feedback from growers for the Honor followed by the Candonga. the Chiflon has good appearance and taste, Festival has good colour and an elongated appearance, and Ventana is eating well at the start of the season with a good shape and size. unfortunately, the Honor is in its second flowering and the fruit is extremely large but we are looking at possibilities for using it to our advantage and marketing it as a King berry, possibly in a black punnet so that the fruit stands out more. Growers in general have been a bit disappointed with the ventana variety so far. The Ventana was meant to produce early with a high yield until March without too much misshapen fruit. Unfortunately there has not been too much difference in terms of production compared to the Camarosa i.e. it has produced at teh same time, given a slightly higher yield and has been prone to misshape. However the grower we work with have endeavoured to control the picking and we have not encountered too mant quality problems. Production so far has been steady due to the cold nights and morning but we foresee an increase in production at the beginning of March when hopefully the weather will pick up.

Winter 2003