25 STRAWBERRY cultivars were patented in 2015 - 25 variedades de FRUTILLA (FRESA) fueron patentadas en 2015

New strawberry cultivars: 25 patents were granted in 2015. Driscoll (US) was the applicant with more patents: 6 cultivars, followed by Plant Science Inc (US): 4; Darbonne (France/Spain): 3;  Sweet Darling Sales Inc (US): 3, etc. (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Left column is the applicant. The right column shows the name of the cultivars patented by each applicant in 2015.

From the 25 patents, 19 were granted to companies based in the US, 3 in France/Spain; 2 in Italy and 1 in the UK (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Applicants nationality

Source: Prepared by Daniel Kirschbaum with information taken from patentinspiration.com

Ugly FRUIT and wonky VEGETABLES - FRUTAS feas y HORTALIZAS torcidas

A Reality Check on the food we waste because it doesn't look perfect.

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Zurückspulen

Each year, 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted. But how much of this is down to us rejecting food because we simply don’t like the look of what we see; maybe the carrots aren’t so smooth or straight, the bananas don’t look as ripe and the tomatoes appear a bit off colour. So we don’t buy them, or the manufacturers won’t even select them to appear in the supermarkets and these products get thrown on the scrapheap.

dpa/Tobias Hase

However, the less than pure looking fruit and vegetables are very often just as fresh, edible and nourishing as the more aesthetically pleasing variety. And we are adding to that global pile of food waste simply by putting that rather bendy looking courgette back on the shelf.

I spoke with Rhi Willmot, a researcher in Behavioural and Positive Psychology, at Bangor University in the UK. During her master’s degree in Consumer Psychology she opened a pop-up shop selling 'ugly' fruit and vegetables.

So what did you discover about what we reject and why?

An important point here is that many people don’t actually realise how much is being wasted. I set up a pop-up shop selling ugly fruit and vegetables last year, it gave us the chance to talk to consumers and it left us feeling astounded about how much food was being rejected not because there was anything wrong with it, but simply that it looked slightly funny.

Tell us more about that ‘ugly’ food shop.

Along with a friend, and we are not expert food sellers or anything like that, but we hooked up with a local company and they brought us all of the ugly foods that weren’t being sold by the local supermarkets and we got quite a range of things; we came across things that were just slightly mis-shapen so carrots with two legs, wonky strawberries that looked a bit weird, there was all kind of foodstuffs we took in.

Is it supermarkets or just the customers dictating the desire for the perfect potato of the most beautiful looking carrot?

Probably both. We do have natural impulses to look favourably on things that are naturally symmetrical or unblemished. So I think when people are shopping for food it is generally things that are not so perfect that get left on the shelves. And supermarkets have done a lot to enhance that notion. There’s no need to produce so much fruit and vegetables and then only select the best out of that. At the end of the day, ugly fruit & vegetables are generally perfectly OK to eat and I think people would be much happier to think that there isn’t such a huge amount of food being wasted, whilst putting a funny looking vegetable in their basket.

dpa-Zentralbild/Britta Pedersen

Can we relate any of this to theories of human attraction?

Most theories of human attraction tend to suggest we find people with symmetrical features more attractive, than people with asymmetries. That’s thought to be because it had been assumed that physical asymmetries came about through diseases occurring during physical development. So the idea is that evolutionary, it is better to select a mate with a symmetrical face since that signifies they have healthier genes and any offspring are likelier to be more healthy. I think you can see some parallels between those theories and our choices of fuit and vegetables. But the evolutionary advantages aren’t relevant to fruit and vegetables. So we may have those underlying preferences for symmetry in mate selection. However, in the context of selecting fruit and vegetables, symmetry doesn’t provide any advantages.

Do you think the future is a yes to wonky veg and ugly fruit?

Yes, I hope so. I think a huge benefit I see is that more and more people are becoming aware of the wastage of what’s going on. Once that awareness takes hold, there could be real pressure on the supermarkets to start selling these ugly foodstuffs. I hope that the current awareness is not just a fad with people getting excited and the trend tailing off.

Source (with audio): http://fm4.orf.at/stories/1769126/

Una sola región exporta el 90% de los ARÁNDANOS peruanos - One region exports 90% of the Peruvian BLUBERRIES

Cosechera peruana de arándano (Fuente: http://ww2.kqed.org)

Las exportaciones de arándano de La Libertad entre enero y noviembre del 2015 registraron una facturación de unos US$ 76.950.417, lo cual significó un crecimiento del 236 % comparado con el mismo periodo del 2014, según informó el Área de Inteligencia Comercial de la Asociación de Exportadores (Adex).

En tanto, los envíos de este producto a nivel nacional alcanzaron US$ 81.921.547. En relación a los mercados que más consumen esta fruta, el primer puesto lo ocupó E.E.U.U. con US$ 43.938.221, seguido por los Países Bajos con US$ 21.328.638, Reino Unido con US$ 9.163.186, Hong Kong con US$ 1.231.158, Singapur con US$ 308.938 y España con US$ 239.106, entre otros.

Sin duda, uno de los incrementos más notorios en la exportación de productos agrícolas del departamento de La Libertad fue el arándano, logrando actualmente ser líderes indiscutibles dentro del país al representar más del 90 % de la exportación nacional. Le siguen en participación Áncash con 3 %, Lima 2 % e Ica 1 %.
Fuente: http://www.laindustria.pe

Asia: A great market for ACHACHA FRUIT - Asia: Un gran mercado para la ACHACHA

Awareness and demand for achacha fruit is continuing to grow this year as chefs, foodies and the health conscious continue to explore exotic fruit and vegetables around the world. The achacha is originally from Bolivia – where it is known as achachairú and has been cultivated for many years in smallholdings and domestic orchards – but the leading commercial plantation for the fruit is actually in Queensland, Australia. Achacha grower Bruce Hill has championed the fruit since 2002, when an agreement with the Bolivian Government allowed him to start growing achacha commercially at Palm Creek Plantation, just south of Townsville in north Queensland. He says they have 120 ha dedicated to more than 16,000 achacha trees, as well as “about 60 mango trees and a few other tropical species”.

More people are discovering this unique fruit every year, with Asia a particularly strong market for the upcoming 2015/16 season. “There has been a lot of interest from that region over the last few months. And we expect exports to UK / Europe will continue,” he says, also noting that the Australian domestic market continues to grow each year. While the achacha’s unique sweet and tangy flavour is one of its main drawcards, Mr Hill also says it has a lot of health benefits that appeal to people. “It’s high in antioxidants, and very low in sugars,” he says. “There is a steady stream of customers with diabetes who buy box loads of the fruit from the plantation.”

“A recent study by the University of Western Sydney has found high levels of arginine, which benefits the cardiovascular system, in the skin – suggesting that the drink traditionally made from the skins as a hunger suppressant could have other beneficial properties as well.” Mr Hill has also noticed more interest from the culinary world, where exotic fruits and vegetables are currently very on trend. “More and more chefs are becoming aware of the fruit and what can be done with it so we expect that it will feature increasingly on menus in restaurants,” he says.

“To facilitate its use in sorbets, ice-cream, cocktails, desserts, drinks and so on, not only do we provide a Thermomix pulping method, but we are installing a processing facility to separate the pulp from the rest of the fruit.” The achacha flowers also provide a great flavour for honey, although Mr Hill says there won’t be any this season due to drought. He says dry weather has definitely affected the plantation this year – in the same way it has for many other tropical fruits grown in Australia, such as mangoes and lychees.

“We have had an exceptionally dry year, virtually no rain since March, and this no doubt has influenced the crop, which will be later than usual,” he says. “We normally follow mangoes – this year the mango harvest has been extremely poor, and drawn out, with fruit ripening over a couple of months instead of the usual three weeks or so.” With the fruit just starting to show colour on the trees, Mr Hill expects harvest will start in mid-January and hopes to have several hundred tonnes for both domestic sales and exports.

Source: http://www.freshplaza.com

Cognitive effects following acute wild BLUEBERRY supplementation in 7- to 10-year-old children - Efectos cognitivos de la suplementación aguda con ARÁNDANO silvestre en niños de 7 a 10 años de edad

Photo from http://1.bp.blogspot.com

Previously, anthocyanin-rich blueberry treatments have shown positive effects on cognition in both animals and human adults. However, little research has considered whether these benefits transfer to children. Here we describe an acute time-course and dose–response investigation considering whether these cognitive benefits extend to children. 

Using a double-blind cross-over design, on three occasions children (n = 21; 7–10 years) consumed placebo (vehicle) or blueberry drinks containing 15 or 30 g freeze-dried wild blueberry (WBB) powder. A cognitive battery including tests of verbal memory, word recognition, response interference, response inhibition and levels of processing was performed at baseline, and 1.15, 3 and 6 h following treatment.

Significant WBB-related improvements included final immediate recall at 1.15 h, delayed word recognition sustained over each period, and accuracy on cognitively demanding incongruent trials in the interference task at 3 h. Importantly, across all measures, cognitive performance improved, consistent with a dose–response model, with the best performance following 30 g WBB and the worst following vehicle.

Findings demonstrate WBB-related cognitive improvements in 7- to 10-year-old children. These effects would seem to be particularly sensitive to the cognitive demand of task. 

Source: Adrian R. Whyte, Graham Schafer, Claire M. Williams. 2015. European Journal of Nutrition. http://link.springer.com

Too much woo for growers to go ORGANIC? - Demasiado cortejo a los productores para convertirse en ORGÁNICOS?

The Internet is awash with reports claiming that organic farming is more profitable for farmers than conventional agriculture. The latest spate of posts was based on a study recently published in PNAS by Washington State University researchers who found a price premium of 22 to 35 percent over the same conventionally grown food, despite yields that were 18 percent lower for organics.

Phot from http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org

This report echoes the conclusions of a 2009 UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) study, which also pointed to the “non-economic benefits” of organic agriculture–it’s supposed sustainability benefits. But the claims of improved profitability for farmers run up against some hard facts: organic farming in the West is far from booming, even as sales of organic foods are increasing sharply, albeit from a very low base. If there’s so much money to be made in organics, then why aren’t more farmers switching?

Declines in organic farms

While the consumer demand for organic food is rising, there are 16,525 organic farms in the U.S., only 0.8 percent of all farms. Most organic farms also are small—in Washington state, 30 percent of organic farms had less than $25,000 a year in sales, while just 9 percent had more than $1 million. The USDA also has found that most organic farms tend to be smaller (which it measures by having less than $250,000 in sales).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture does not keep data on farms that have dropped out of the National Organic Program, and changes in data collection between 2007 and 2012 make it nearly impossible to make that kind of comparison (for now—the USDA is conducting surveys that could reveal more data this or next year).

But other studies show a wobbly, at best, support for organic farming by farmers themselves. A 2010 study by Washington State University found that organic certifications in the state dropped by 18 (to 735), while five farms became certified organic. More recent state data shows that the number of organic farms has dropped slightly again in 2013, and acreage devoted to organics also dropped.

In 2007, the California Institute for Rural Studies found that while 600 farmers entered that state’s organic program (California’s the only state with its own organic registration process), 523 farmers dropped out of the program between 2003 and 2005 alone. Just last month the UK Guardian carried an article titled “Why are organic farmers across Britain giving up?” detailing the plight of organic farmers who are being squeezed despite the sharply higher prices paid by consumers for organic food:

Darren and Julia Quenault took their first delivery of non-organic cattle feed a few weeks ago. After nine years of organic dairy farming, they decided to convert back to conventional, and give up their organic status, at the end of last year.

The Quenaults are not alone. Even as demand for organic food remains high, the farmers producing it are falling by the wayside. … UK government figures show that while organic food sales have bounced back from the low that followed the 2008/9 financial crash, the amount of land being farmed organically in Britain continues to shrink. In 2013, the last year for which data are available, land in the process of being converted to organic fell by 24 percent, with fully organic land falling by 3.9 percent. The number of producers and processors of organic food fell for the fifth year in a row, by 6.4 percent, and the number of organic sheep, pigs and cattle also fell.

What do farmers say?

The Quenaults say the reason they switched came down to simple economics. “Cattle feed costs were excruciatingly expensive and we just couldn’t absorb them,” says Julia. “We’re saving £1,800 a month. We couldn’t have continued, we would have had to put up prices significantly, and we didn’t feel we could burden consumers with an extra 12 percent on the price of milk.”

Interviewing farmers also has turned up revealing patterns in what farmers adopt, reject or abandon organic farming. Jeff Murray, a marketing professor at the University of Arkansas, and his colleagues found that significant numbers of farmers were resisting organic farming, despite the supposed allure of premium profits. In the study, they found that ideology, especially among conventional farmers, was the primary driver to switching to or rejecting organic:

Conventional farmers saw themselves as better planners, more scientific, and embracing minimal tilling and “chemical applications” to increase yield. Meanwhile, organic farmers saw themselves as farming like their grandparents, spending more time in the field but seeing soil as an ecosystem.

Conventional farmers saw organic farmers as unscientific, and following “an organic crop guru.” Meanwhile, organic farmers perceived conventional farmers as lazy, “leaving it all up to the co-op to make decisions for them.” Aside from these perceptions, conventional farmers said they’d consider some organic practices if they paid off.

For many farmers, organic practices as a whole do not always translate to higher profits. One of the obstacles is the same thing faced by conventional farmers, including those who use genetically modified seeds: what farmers see as over regulation. A study by the University of California found that 38 percent of organic farmers listed regulatory burdens as their chief challenge. “These included paperwork and record keeping for certification, inspections, finding a third-party certifier, and the cost of certification,” the study said.

The certification process is quite involved. Under the USDA National Organic Program (NOP), any applying farm must go through a transition period of three years, during which it cannot sell any product as certified “organic.” However, the farm is supposed to be changing its practices to organic during this time. Once certified, a farmer has to pass inspections, and document that his or her farm is following all the rules governing organic farming.

Input costs are not cheap, either, sometimes exceeding those for conventional farming. Labor costs can be significantly higher for organic farming. For example, many conventional farmers grow GMO Bt crops, which require almost no insecticide spraying while organic farmers with pest problems must spray their crops regularly, which requires extra labor. Any conventional farmers growing herbicide tolerant crops have to weed far less, another labor saving innovation over organic farmers.

One organic farmer in a California study told researchers “This is all labor. I’ve had a few partners that backed out once they saw they had to spend $1,800 an acre weeding spinach compared to $150 an acre in conventional.” Meanwhile, an organic farmer in Ventura County, California, told the researchers that “when I farmed conventionally, I had six employees on 300 acres. Now that I’m farming organically, I have 15 employees on 30 acres.”

Too much woo?

Other farmers have abandoned organics because they see the movement as more like a religion than focused on agricultural science. Mike Bendzela, a former organic farmer in Maine, recently likened the philosophy of the organics movement……to a barrel raft covered in loose planks. In trying to justify their beliefs, the pile on the claims (planks), each of which rests on a different assumption (barrel). And when one claim is questioned, they simply jump to another plank on the raft and try to hold it all together.

Bendzela recounted attending a Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association fair, and encountering “Whole Life Tent,” replete with “reflexologists, naturopathic doctors, homeopaths, Reiki practitioners… I was unsure what any of this had to do with agriculture.” What they were: “a necessarily evil to get non-ag types of attend. This disorder is not limited to the fairgrounds.”

Prices don’t stay the same

One looming question is whether the organic price premium will last. According to the Washington State University report: “The actual premiums paid to organic farmers ranged from 29 to 32 percent above conventional prices. Even with organic crop yields as much as 18 percent lower than conventional, the breakeven point for organic agriculture was 5 to 7 percent.” According to the researchers, that means that organics could still be profitable even at much lower premiums.

However, if adoption of some organic practices (crop rotation and multi-cropping in particular) are adopted by conventional farmers, the “yield” gap between organics and conventional crops, already significant, grows even wider. It’s not even clear that current premiums are even covering the higher costs of organic farming (while the Washington State group notes that premiums have held steady for 40 years, organic food has only been an organized entity for less than 20). In fact, genetically engineered foods are largely responsible for the ability to yield more crops on less land, according to the USDA. With changes in supply and demand come changes in prices. At least, farmers are more than a little skeptical of the sustainability of profits, much less products.

Source: Andrew Porterfield (www.geneticliteracyproject.org).

Evitemos que los ARÁNDANOS se conviertan en las "bananas" del mercado - Let's prevent that BLUEBERRIES become the "bananas" of the market

http://www.vitacost.com

De manera inesperada, las bananas se convirtieron en un tema común durante el primer día de la cumbre anual de la International Blueberry Organization (IBO), evento que se está desarrollando en la ciudad de Coffs Harbour, al norte de Nueva Gales del Sur, Australia. Esto, porque el fruto tropical sirvió como una advertencia a los peligros de las trampas de los productos. “¿Cómo te gusta la fruta? Con adjetivos por favor”, preguntó a los presentes el Dr. David Hughes, profesor emérito en comercialización de alimentos en el Imperial College de Londres.

Ante 330 participantes -que de una u otra forma representan al 90% de los productores de arándanos del mundo-, Hughes advirtió a los proveedores sobre la necesidad de ser más descriptivos en la comercialización de los arándanos, aprovechando términos como “recién cosechado”, “amigable con el medio ambiente”, “premium”, “orgánico”, y muchos más. “Las personas pagarán más. Hay margen en los adjetivos. Si su única descripción ahora es ‘arándanos’, entonces se encuentra en los productos básicos, y luego pagarán el precio por ello”, indicó.

Hughes discutió sobre la idea de los “conocidos artículos de valor” (known value items -KVI), que sigue la noción de que los compradores sólo pueden almacenar cerca de 30 precios de productos en la cabeza en un momento dado. Siguiendo esta idea, es importante que la comercialización de los arándanos destaque frente a otros productos, para ganarse un espacio importante en el mercado y no llegar a ser un producto devaluado.

“Tienes que ser muy competitivo con los ‘artículos de valor’, y lo que ha ocurrido en Reino Unido es que en el 2000 las bananas tenían una cuota de valor del 22% en retail y un precio promedio de venta de £1,40 (USD 2.14)”. “15 años después, la cuota de valor se ha reducido al 11% y el precio promedio de venta de las bananas en Reino Unido es de a £0,89 (USD 1.36) por kilo en los supermercados. No pongan a los arándanos en esa posición”, destacó.

“El consumo per cápita de bananas ha subido de 13kg a 17kg. Es genial para los consumidores, pero las ventas de banana al por menor en términos de dinero no han ido a ninguna parte. La falta de variedad de productos ha contribuido a la mercantilización de las bananas”, agregó. Hughes sugirió que la industria del arándano debe ir mucho más lejos en términos de comercialización y asegurarse de que esta fruta forme parte de las ofertas alimenticias y se encuentre en paquetes de snacks. “Póngalos donde la gente está buscando los snacks, almuerzos… ponerlos en envases de tamaños respondan a sus necesidades; tendrán que pagar más por menos, y esa es nuestra oportunidad”.

También instó al sector a seguir publicando buenas noticias entorno a los arándanos, en base a conocimientos científicos sólidos, y ofrecer una oferta diferenciada a través de la idea ‘bueno, mejor, superior’. “Verás que en la mayoría de los supermercados en todo el mundo habrá un barato, regular y premium. Queremos ver ese rango en los arándanos“, dijo. A pesar de las advertencias, Hughes se mostró bastante positivo sobre el futuro de la fruta. “Los arándanos están pasando por un periodo de oro en términos de demanda, incluso en los mercados más maduros, donde aún hay espacio para el crecimiento”. “¿Por qué? Porque es intuitivo -las tendencias a largo plazo de los consumidores y los mercados globales están muy lejos de la madurez”.

Tras una charla del presidente de African Blue, Avi Weizman, quien mencionó que las frutillas se habían convertido en ‘las bananas de Marruecos’, el presidente de S.T.T Royal, José Gandia, argumentó que escoger las variedades correctas es clave para evitar un deterioro en los precios de la categoría. “Estamos viendo aparecer variedades en el mercado que tienen muy poco sabor, y uno de los principales inconvenientes que veo en el futuro es la presencia de variedades que tienen la apariencia, pero no tienen el sabor”. “El desafío es -que puede suceder en un futuro próximo- que algunas de las variedades que se están produciendo no sean tan buenas como los que hemos tenido hasta ahora, y habrá una destrucción de la apreciación del consumidor con el fruto que no tiene buen sabor, o es demasiado ácido o muy blando”.

Por su parte, la representante de la Unión de Productores y Exportadores de Fruta de Uruguay (UPEFRUY), Marta Bentancur, mencionó que para no convertirse en un mercado como el de las bananas, el país se encuentra trabajando en la diversificación. “Somos un país pequeño, con volúmenes pequeños, pero la trazabilidad, la calidad, la seguridad y el cuidado de nuestra gente y el medio ambiente son nuestros principales valores y oportunidades para crecer en el mercado internacional”, dijo. Por otro lado, Chaesup Rim de Very Berry Korea advirtió que el mercado coreano ya no consume tanto arroz como antes y que es necesario para los productores de este producto encontrar un sustituto que sea beneficioso, y el arándano puede convertirse en una buena opción.

Fuente: www.portalfruticola.com

¿Qué está pasando con el ARÁNDANO congelado? - What's going on with frozen BLUEBERRIES?

Photo source: http://www.whatcomfarmtoschool.org

Se sabe que el arándano fresco aporta más vitamina C que la naranja, y pese a que Chile es el principal exportador de arándanos del Hemisferio Sur, los chilenos no son muy aficionados a comerlo, quizás no por su sabor, sino por su elevado precio. Los que sí lo consumen son los estadounidenses, europeos, japoneses, australianos y coreanos, mercados a los que Chile conduce sus exportaciones de arándanos frescos. Pero, ¿qué ocurre con los congelados?

Chile tiene una extensa temporada de producción de arándanos. Se da en excelentes condiciones desde Copiapó, en el norte del país, hasta Chile Chico en el sur, y desde octubre hasta principios de abril. Por cada producción de esta pequeña delicia existe un porcentaje que no cumple con los requisitos de ser un producto fresco de exportación, y es precisamente este porcentaje el que queda para arándano congelado.

Gabriel Ormeño, presidente del Comité de Arándanos de Fedefruta, señala que el congelado oscila aproximadamente entre el 5 y 10% de la producción total. “Su exportación (arándano fresco) dependerá de varios factores, como de las condiciones climáticas, del tipo de variedad, de la cosecha, su consistencia, la dureza, tamaño, de no tener daños, y justamente el que va congelado es el que tiene algún daño y no puede ser exportado de esta manera”, explicó Ormeño.

“El arándano fresco, en cambio, es el que reúne condiciones para poder viajar y llegar a los mercados. Las exportaciones en barco demoran entre 30 y 40 días, y en avión por lo menos 6 días, entonces esta fruta para fresco debe cumplir con ciertos requisitos, y estos requisitos se revisan diariamente en el empaque y en la empresa exportadora para que llegue en buenas condiciones”, agregó.

El rico congelado

En 2014, un estudiante de posgrado con título en ciencias de alimentación de la Universidad Estatal de Dakota del Sur en EE.UU., encontró, luego de una exhaustiva investigación, que los arándanos congelados son igual de nutritivos que los frescos, incluso después de 6 meses de congelación. Su experimento consistió en observar detenidamente los niveles de antioxidantes en los arándanos congelados en el primer, tercer y quinto mes, y no encontró ninguna disminución nutricional luego de compararlos con los frescos. “La proporción de arándanos que se exportan como congelado ha aumentado durante las últimas temporadas” comentó Andrés Armstrong, director ejecutivo del Comité de Arándanos de Chile.

“De porcentajes que hace unos años no llegaban al 10% del total producido, hoy se estima que entre el 20% y 25% de los arándanos producidos en el país van a algún fin industrial, siendo el más importante el congelado. Esto se debe a diversos factores, como la disponibilidad de mano de obra en algunas zonas, la vida poscosecha de algunas variedades y también el efecto de un clima cada vez más cambiante que en exceso de calor o presencia de lluvias durante las cosechas, afecta la condición de la fruta para su exportación como fresco”, dijo.

“Esto ha implicado en orientar algunas partes de la cosecha (último tercio por ejemplo) al mercado del congelado, optimizando los costos de cosecha y de materiales, lo que ha posibilitado el desarrollo de un suministro más estable para la industria”. Luego continúa: “si bien nuestro país tiene una ventaja competitiva importante como productor en contra temporada a los principales mercados mundiales, existe un espacio que hoy es más relevante en la industria de procesados”.

Es que el congelado tiene varios usos que cada día se van haciendo más populares dentro de los consumidores. “El congelado en buenas condiciones se divide en varios tipos, para repostería, tragos y los en peores condiciones para jugos. En este caso no interesa tanto la calidad ni la condición, y este año en general tuvo un buen retorno, de U$1,30 como mínimo, y en algunos mercados llegó a U$1,5, por lo tanto valía la pena recogerlo y venderlo”, apunta Ormeño.

Hay que señalar que, fuera de lo anterior, existen dos agentes que afectan o estimulan la exportación del arándano congelado. El primero es el valor del dólar, que tiene bastante incidencia en el negocio. Ormeño explica al respecto que “este año fue bueno porque el dólar estuvo en promedio a $620, pero el año 2005 estuvo a $740 y después llegamos a $400 donde prácticamente era un desastre, casi no había retorno, ni siquiera para los arándanos frescos. No era que la producción era mala, sino que el dólar nos jugaba en contra. Hoy puedo afirmar que el dólar está a un precio de equilibrio para el productor de arándanos”.

El segundo agente es el stock estadounidense. “Al término de cada temporada, EE.UU. establece cuáles serán los stocks, y cuando estos bajan hay mayor interés de parte de ellos en comprar congelados. Cuando los stocks están muy altos en EE.UU. los precios de nuestros productos bajan y no hay mucho interés en comprar, ni a nosotros nos conviene cosechar”. “En estos momentos es muy prematuro decir lo que pasará en el futuro con respecto a los congelados, la temporada en EE.UU. termina en agosto y en esa época se conoce cuáles serán los precios que van a pagarse en Chile por el arándano de descarte o congelado”, finaliza el experto.

Valor agregado

Los hechos están a nuestro alrededor, el mercado sí está preparado para un suministro consistente de arándanos congelados. La moda de las polybags para el retail, los smoothies y la repostería de nicho está creciendo y se requiere disponibilidad de suministro para cada uno de ellos. Alifrut es una empresa de alimentos y frutas conocida en el mercado chileno por su marca de alimentos congelados Minuto Verde. Su gerente de exportaciones, Alejandro Rodríguez nos cuenta que sus principales exportaciones de arándanos congelados van a EE.UU, Corea del Sur, Australia y Europa, siguiendo con la tendencia general.

“Existen algunos factores que también podrían afectar a nuestras exportaciones de arándanos congelados, pero de una u otra forma no lo hacen. El primero es la Lobesia botrana, que, a pesar de existir, sólo afecta a los frescos, los congelados no tienen ningún problema”. “Por otra parte, la situación actual de Grecia y su crisis económica, que en ambos casos –fresco y congelado- no nos afecta”. “El principal mercado para fresco es Inglaterra y para congelado son Holanda, Alemania e Inglaterra”, concluye.

Fuente: www.portalfruticola.com

TOMATES azules y el debate de los transgénicos - Blue TOMATOES and the GMOs debate

Foto de http://www.abc.es

Un miembro del foro socioprofesional eDialogo nos planteaba hace poco la pregunta “¿Son transgénicos los tomates azules?” Como todo lo que lleva la etiqueta transgénica se convierte en asunto polémico, decidimos investigar, y finalmente le respondemos: sí y no. Verán por qué. Los tomates azules surgen, no de un deseo caprichoso del consumidor, sino como iniciativa de varios centros de investigación en diversos lugares del mundo, pero siempre con fines terapéuticos. Las diferencias principales están en el método utilizado para obtenerlos — hibridación convencional o modificación genética — y en la aplicación final de estos tomates.

Entre los equipos obtentores de los frutos transgénicos se encuentra el del Centro de investigaciones John Innes, en Norwich (Reino Unido), que produjo el tomate azul al incorporar genes de Boca de dragón (Antirrhinum majus), una flor con alto contenido antociánico. Según publican estos científicos en Nature Biotechnology, los ratones alimentados con estos frutos transgénicos disfrutaron de mayor longevidad.

Por su parte, el Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP), en Valencia (España), también utilizó biotecnología para crear tomates azules terapéuticos, pero en su caso diseñados para elaborar vacunas y proteínas de valor agregado. Finalmente unos investigadores de la Universidad de Oregón (Estados Unidos), también han desarrollado tomates, no exactamente azules, sino morados, que contienen una sustancia encontrada en arándanos que les confiere propiedades que reducen el riesgo de contraer cáncer y ciertas enfermedades cardiovasculares.

En el lado de los no transgénicos, encontramos a unos investigadores de São Paulo (Brasil), quienes han desarrollado un tomate morado — no transgénico — que podría ayudar a prevenir ciertas enfermedades. Este tomate brasileño es un híbrido entre un tomate común procedente de Chile, y uno silvestre encontrado en las Islas Galápagos. Este tomate posee propiedades antioxidantes que también contribuyen a prevención de enfermedades, incluyendo algunas crónicas y degenerativas. Todo lo anterior parece razonable, pero ¿qué función desempeña el color, y en particular el azul (o morado) en los experimentos? La respuesta en esta ocasión es simple; el color inusual los hace fácilmente diferenciables de otros tomates, para evitar que se comercialicen para consumo alimentario.

La otra pregunta sería ¿por qué utilizar un tomate precisamente para la investigación? De nuevo encontramos que las respuestas también tienen bastante sentido. El fruto de tomate cuenta con la habilidad de generar y acumular gran cantidad de biomasa con facilidad. Además el tomate es un producto relevante en los hábitos alimenticios occidentales, y una fuente natural de nutrientes. Otro punto a su favor como candidato idóneo para los experimentos es la versatilidad en su forma de consumo.

Fuente: Ana Isabel Reho (http://mundoagropecuario.com)

A new SUPERBERRY soon available also in the UK - Una nueva SUPERBERRY pronto disponible también en el Reino Unido

Leading UK soft fruit supplier, CPM, is gearing up to launch an exciting new ‘superberry’, rich in antioxidants, which will be available in the UK for the first time mid-June next year 

Photo form https://en.wikipedia.org

Lonicera caerulea (honeyberry, blue-berried honeysuckle, or sweetberry honeysuckle) is a honeysuckle native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere. Blue honeysuckle, also known as Haskap, has a tangy flavour cross between a blueberry, blackberry and raspberry and will only be available for a maximum of four weeks from farms in the UK from next June. It has at least double the nutraceuticals compared to other berries, according to recognised research from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada in cooperation with Dalhouse University. The berry also has 60% the RDA of vitamin C in a single handful as well as three times the iron content of a blueberry and twice that of a strawberry. The berry is already being grown under contract in Poland and to complement this, CPM is growing it with a number of its partner UK growers, which will increase in availability over the next three years. 

(Left to right) Begnat Robichaud, Commercial Director at CPM with Sandy Booth, Managing Director at The New Forest Fruit Co.

Begnat Robichaud, Commercial Director at CPM, specialist soft fruit supplier to the UK market and supplier of UK blue honeysuckle, said: “This is a really exciting development for the berry industry in the UK, firstly for the berries’ health qualities, and secondly, it looks and tastes different to the current offer. Blue honeysuckle grows well in the UK due to cold winters and rainy spring weather. The fruit is tangy in flavour, which makes it great on its own, or as a refreshing addition to juices or smoothies. It’s also ideal for use in jams, chutneys, syrup or an ingredient within home baking. 

“But, you’ll have to be quick off the mark – Blue honeysuckle berries have a short harvesting window and are only available to buy fresh for 3-4 weeks. However, there are new varieties being planted, which should enable seasonal extension in a few years.” The oblong-shaped fruit, which is dark blue in colour, originates from Japan, where it’s celebrated via ‘Haskap Day’ and is recognised as the ‘elixir of life’. Its literal translation is ‘the many presents on the branch’. 

Bob Bors, Head of the Fruit Program at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan and Principal Investigator of research paper ‘Breeding and Selecting Haskap for Nutraceutical and Agronomic Sustainability’, said: “In our research, released earlier this year, over 15,000 blue honeysuckle seedlings were field evaluated, with the best intensively evaluated in lab tests and additional field studies.

“Antioxidant testing, in cooperation with Dalhouse University, rated our varieties highest in antioxidants compared to other berries and grapes. Additionally, we discovered that some varieties have three times more nutraceuticals than other blue honeysuckle varieties. This is a fantastic health benefit as it means we could easily breed an even healthier berry that could surpass the already high levels that blue honeysuckle has achieved. 

Sources: http://www.freshplaza.com; https://en.wikipedia.org 

Industry must do more to battle global WATER crisis - El sector agro-industrial debe hacer más para combatir la crisis global del AGUA

Industry must do more to battle global water crisis

Consumer demand for parsnips on the rise - La demanda de chirivía en aumento

Consumers are enjoying parsnips (Pastinaca sativa) for their health benefits and versatility as they can be cooked and eaten in many different ways. Food Network is claiming parsnips to be a new superfood on the rise. Typically a winter vegetable, parsnips are now available year-round in supermarkets and farmer’s markets throughout the US.

 

“We are seeing a steady increase in sales of parsnip seeds”, says Kraig Kuykendall with Tozer Seeds America, the pioneer of the first F1 parsnip hybrid that was developed in the UK over three decades ago. Hybrid parsnips are a lot stronger and much more uniform than the non-hybrid varieties. “Parsnips are a difficult root vegetable to grow,” said Kuykendall. “They are a weak and slowly growing product with different root sizes.” Development of hybrid varieties has resulted in a more vigorous product that is uniform in shape and size. Tozer sells different hybrid varieties that all have their individual characteristics. Gladiator, the world’s first commercial F1 hybrid parsnip, matures quicker. The Javelin variety on the other hand is resistant to root canker and is the highest yielding variety while the Albion variety is preferred by some customers for its white color.

“North American growing regions for parsnips are at the same northern latitude as the UK,” said Kuykendall. “As a result, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Washington are the largest parsnip growing states in the US.” In Canada, parsnips are grown in Quebec and Ontario. 

Source: http://www.freshplaza.com

With the "Sonata" variety, UK STRAWBERRY growers compete with imported berries from Spain and Morocco - Con la variedad "Sonata", productores de FRUTILLA (FRESA) de UK compiten con la fruta importada de España y Marruecos

The first UK grown strawberries have been arriving on the supermarket shelves for a couple of weeks now, four week earlier than normal.

Photo source: http://www.kenmuir.co.uk

One of the growers of these very early berries is Wallings Nursery in Essex who have supplied the Sonata variety, a typical June bearer which can also be grown outside, in tunnels and glasshouses. Christopher Batchelor from Wallings said that this year they took a bit of a gamble planting the plants before Christmas in the hope they were ready for planting at that time. "We also have LED lighting and thermal screens to encourage them to grow faster. Weather has also played a part with good light levels," explained Batchelor. Volumes are small, Batchelor said they have only picked around a thousand punnets this morning, it is a small area of 4000m². The main production starts mid April, May and June.

"This is a speciality crop where we are trying to get some English crop into the system, the berries are supplied exclusively to Sainsburys who have been part of the project. Typically at this time of the year there is only Spanish and Moroccan fruit available. Demand for the strawberries has way outstripped supply," according to Batchelor. Peak production will start the end of April/ beginning of May. Wallings has 3ha of glass production and 2ha of Spanish tunnels. Typically in spring they will produce 200 tonnes of Sonata and also Malling Sentenery, in summer another 100 tonnes. They are a small grower for supplying the niche market, going for quality and flavour. In summer, Wallings deliver direct to local Sainsburys stores ensuring the fruit is very fresh and very local.
Source: Nichola Watson (www.hortidaily.com)