Page 23 - October freshletter_UK

ects covering a total of 1,800 hectares,
partly divided into already established
projects and partly into completely new
projects.
With regard to the consolidated projects,
investment is planned in Club apples that More than 1,800 hectares
are already considered successful, such as
a further 120 hectares of Pink Lady®, 140 will be cultivated with new
additional hectares of envy™, 80 hect-
ares of Shinano Gold/yello®, 150 hectares varieties, while 300 hectares
of Crimson Snow®, 120 hectares of Joya® will be added to organic
and finally 30 hectares of Sweetango®. All
these varieties will cover different months farms, increasing their total
in the seasonal marketing plan. For exam-
ple, the Minneiska variety, marketed under acreage to 1,0000
the name Sweetango® and originally from
Minnesota (USA), is an early variety har-
vested from early August, which will ac-
company the first Royal Gala harvested in
August and September. By contrast, Joya®
and Crimson Snow®, red and two-tone ap-
ples, are planned for the second half of the
season to accompany Golden Delicious in the two new varieties guarantee.
the months from April to July: a viable al- The European and overseas markets re-
ternative to imported apples. quire diversification, as well as new and
Additionally, VOG offers members the better sensory characteristics, which the
launch of certain new varieties for which VOG project’s new cultivars can guarantee.
it exclusively holds the rights in Europe, Hence the Consortium’s conviction to
managed together with the VI.P. Consor- face the future with an ambitious vari-
tium. etal innovation project that will profound-
These are three new managed varieties, ly change its portfolio over the next five
apples with variety protection that will be years. Almost 2,000 hectares of trees have
marketed with a specific brand. The first been newly planted, resulting in the re-
of these is Cosmic Crisp, the apple that moval of trees that are too old or obso-
is revolutionizing the United States mar- lete clones. Golden, which has dominat-
ket, where Red Delicious consumption has ed our harvests for decades, will decrease
plummeted, a cross between Enterprise from a 25% share of the dedicated area to
and Honeycrisp, the most popular and a 15% share, and the number of Red Deli-
sought-after variety in the USA. cious and Braeburn trees will also be re-
The other two varieties, which are still in duced. By contrast, Royal Gala’s share of
the design phase, are referred to as SK 22 almost 25% of the harvest should be con-
and SK 23: both are resistant to scab and firmed at the current level.
have shelf life and robustness properties The European apple market is experi-
that will allow them to hold up in the sec- encing a structural overproduction crisis
ond half of the sales season and to reach due to huge investment in thousands of
distant overseas destinations. hectares in Eastern Europe that have not
yet entered full production. These apples
Steady gaze at the remote have already arrived on the European and
markets Mediterranean markets and will lead to
This last characteristic is becoming in- fierce competition in regard to the prices of
creasingly strategic for the Consortium. In classic varieties in the future. Consequent-
order to reach new overseas markets, in- ly, VOG has presented its producers with a
volving 4-week container journeys and on- strategic variety plan that will enable their
site distribution without a guaranteed cold apples to stand out on the market, ensur-
chain, impeccable product quality is key to ing that their output remains sustainable
success and it is this characteristic that and guaranteeing their future.

OCTOBER 2019