“The times we are living through are full of fast changes, and the perception is that the development of fruit and vegetable growing is evolving. This situation makes us think that the working method started by Bejo many years ago, combining innovation, but adapting to the reality of production, is the right one,” Enrique Cadiñanos, Head of Sales and Development at Bejo, tells Fruit Today. The situation of inputs, along with climate change is limiting agricultural surface area, in such a way that it is going to be difficult to find markets saturated with produce. On the other hand, it is obvious that the protection of health and how convenient purchase formats are in terms of the reality of Spanish households are driving forward innovations, but always based on sustainable productions, which the producers are able to programme. Accordingly, the best examples from Bejo are REDI, a vegetable that is easy to produce, but with unbeatable presentation and flavour, which can be produced reasonably on the farms; and Bmox, a seed presentation that enhances the strength and uniformity to obtain greater production on the same surface area, with fewer inputs, as it takes advantage of the plant’s own defences. “The quality will always be there: without it the produce doesn’t sell. But the priority is going to fall increasingly on varieties that are resistant to an ever more extreme environmental situation.”
New developments at Ifema
At Fruit Attraction, Bejo will show some of its latest developments. One of them is Akasya, the first variety of its commitment to cucumber in Almeria and in new inland regions. “The main retailers on the Spanish market are already opting for this variety.”
In onions, the new option is Macon, a sweet Vidalia-type variety, which allows the Spanish harvest to be started early, and as it also keeps well, getting ahead of onions from other sources, it allows the Spanish production to be extended.
They also have new varieties of shallot, but starting from seeds and not from bulbs, avoiding contamination by viruses and other pathogens and bringing ease of production, which means a revolution in the reduction of costs for this crop (this makes it possible for production in Spain). In leafy vegetables, the new development is Pershing, a semi-Savoy-type spinach that is resistant to 19 strains of Mildew.
Redi will also be there (purple sprouting broccoli), awarded with the Innovation Hub 2020. Bejo is continuing its introduction with very good results in top-class restaurants. “We are going to have a permanent point of sale in Mercamadrid that will concentrate the retail sales for Madrid and, subsequently, for the rest of Spain.” Outside Spain’s borders, it has been introduced in Germany, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom (using other brand names there).
Finally, they are going to present an important development in the improvement of bee queens for the environment, with greater adaptation to climate change that will allow the seed production to be maintained under the new environmental conditions due to their adaptability.
At the trade fair, the Bejo team will hold meetings with clients, to whom they will pass on their sustainability policy on the subject of SDOs, actions that are going to make ecological production easier “The Green Deal calendar is one of our priorities. We want to transmit the urgency for starting up the processes in order to get there in time”.
