The ecological segment is going from strength to strength in Bejo’s portfolio. The company is working to adapt some of its most emblematic varieties to crops that are 100% ecological and, in the near future, several of them will be ready for marketing, according to Feliú Cusidó, Head of Ecological Crops at Bejo.
Amongst these new developments for bio are beans, a business line that up to now has not had any bio materials. “We are studying the adaptation of Sidonia and Estefania.”
In Spanish cucumbers, the commercial popularity of Akasya in Southern Spain has led them to work to develop it in bio, and in carrots they are doing the same with Nazaret, with its outstanding leaf strength, which works very well in conventional crops. Likewise, they are developing new carrot materials.
In cauliflowers, Benidorm, for the autumn and winter cycle is its main candidate to form part of the ecological offer, and in onions they are working with their reference, Citation, a Recas storage type that stands out amongst their most successful varieties.
The spotlight is aimed at maximum consumption products. And the fact is that, against the growth in consumption that the ecological sector has experienced over the past decade, both within Spanish borders and outside them, inflation and the general increase in prices has had a very bad effect on sales. “In general we are seeing a slowdown in ecological consumption. The sales of the most basic items in the shopping basket are being maintained (onions, brassicas, and carrots) and some specialities are suffering more,” Cusidó explains. Although it is true that consumers with medium-high spending power continue to consume bio products, there are also “those who want to buy them, but cannot do so due to having lower spending power.” However, the Head of Ecological Crops at Bejo believes that this is a temporary circumstance. “We are optimistic. We hope that it is a temporary situation and when the economic situation improves, consumption will start to rise again.” It should not be forgotten that, on a European scale, different strategies are being carried out, such as ‘From Farm to Fork,’ framed within the Green Deal, which “will be positive” for the ecological segment and, thus, for Spain as the leader in ecological fruit and vegetable production in Europe.
