Agrícola Navarro de Haro continues along the same lines, in a year full of new elements
During the last campaign, they cultivated over 700 hectares of watermelons and they closed the financial year with a production of almost 50 million kilos. These figures are expected to be repeated in 2019, weather permitting. This company from Almeria, Agrícola Navarro de Haro, is opting for a stability strategy in an attempt to not saturate the watermelon market, which has already “peaked.” The manager, José Alonso Navarro, does not wish to make any assumptions about the future of this segment, but he is clear that “wherever there is quality produce, consumers respond well and sales increase.”
This quality has become its flagship and is backed by a long history in the sector. However, time passes and, in order to give a renewed air to its activity, they have carried out a complete refurbishment of their installations. More spacious offices, new departments, an complete refurbishment of floors and furnishings, larger restrooms and dining room, new meeting rooms and the renovation of the façade complete work that is aimed at making the day-to-day work easier. “The idea was to separate the departments and have room to work in greater comfort, along with areas for serving clients and suppliers.”
Changes have also been made to the machinery, which this year sees a new weight calibrator and a new washing machine added to the watermelon lines.
Certain value
Every year Agrícola Navarro de Haro carries out trials on new varieties to see how they work, although at present they continue opting for materials that meet their high quality standards perfectly: Fashion for the black seedless; Boston F1 in the case of white seedless and the mini Premium, which already makes up 25% of their total watermelon production. The latter continues to rise, stimulated by foreign sales, where the trend for smaller-sized fruit appeared a few years ago. In Spain, on the other hand, the sale in halves and quarters maintains the 2 and 3 calibres.
Along with watermelons, their product with the largest volume, the company markets others such as tomatoes, iceberg lettuces, broccoli and aloe vera. In 2017/18 they marketed around 70 million kg and for 2018/19 they expect to close with 73 million including all their references.
