In this week’s edition of our Newsletter, we are proud to share with our readers the early ARRA varieties soon to be harvested in South Africa and Namibia. In addition, we will have a sneak peek from Australia as well as from the successful Brazilian ARRA Field days held in Petrolina.
In light of the start of the season in Southern Africa, AJ Jansen van Vuuren, Table Grape Manager at TopFruit, the exclusive territorial agent for the commercialization of the ARRA™ and Early Sweet™ varieties in Southern Africa.
The South African and Namibian table grape industry had quite the roller-coaster ride in the 2020/21 season. Climatic challenges, container shortages and the Covid effect on buyers, had a very negative impact on our industry. On the one hand, several producers suffered greatly with claims but on the other hand, some producers were very fortunate to reap the rewards of early varieties that were packed before the rain had an effect and before all the mid-season varieties took up the available shipping space.
Such dreadful seasons give one the chance to see how varieties measure up against these challenges. With varieties such as ARRA 15 (ARRA Sweeties™) and ARRA 29 (ARRA Passion Fire™) now planted in big volumes, we had the chance to see how they perform in such a difficult year.
AJ says: “We are delighted to report that when it comes to net profit, ARRA 15 is one of the leading varieties according to local research groups, and the other ARRA™ varieties are not far off. Average prices and quality reports looked excellent and ARRA 29 (ARRA Passion Fire™) received exceptionally good reports”.
All varieties have their own limiting factors but the goal is to manage those factors efficiently in order to produce good quality grapes with good farmgate returns. The ARRA™ range has shown us that getting the highest price per carton should not always be the main goal. Looking at net profit over a 5 – 10 year period, TopFruit has gathered sufficient data that clearly indicate which varieties are best suited to which areas. The ARRA™ range has many attributes that allow producers to manage risk effectively and ensure that even in difficult seasons it will perform well.
AJ continues: “We have always said that the ARRA™ range is well known for being very labor-friendly, can withstand rain and has good storage ability. This is almost synonymous with our varieties by now, and we can see this reflected in recent sales figures. Producers have no choice but to plant varieties that are labor-friendly and that can withstand rain and the ARRA varieties are therefore perfect”.
ARRA 33 (ARRA Honey Pop™) is another very good example of a variety with very low production cost as it hardly needs any labor intervention. We are very excited about this variety and optimistic that it will dominate the early white seedless market in the coming years. The word is out, producers are also interested and orders are streaming in for ARRA 33 (ARRA Honey Pop™)!
We are proud to report that in all provinces and growing areas, the ARRA varieties are looking extremely good. Fertility is looking good on all varieties and even with climatic challenges, we believe it is going to be a very good harvest. The first producer started harvesting Early Sweet™ last week.
Last week the Namibian Grape Growers Association (NGGA) hosted the annual Namibian info day. Click here to read the news shared by TopFruit on FreshPlaza.
We wish all South African and Namibian ARRA and Early Sweet producers a fruitful season!
The Grapa team in Brazil held field days, over the course of 3 days, in order to present the new promising varieties currently under evaluation in Brazil. During each field tour, new varieties were introduced to the participants, allowing for the growers to have an opportunity to see them on the vine and to taste them.
Stay tuned, we will report much more about this great event in our next edition!
We are all familiar with the difficulties of enforcing an effective control over the legal origin of the fruits and for this particular reason, and for many years now, Grapa is working with Gesvatec, an accreditation system to assure in a straightforward way the traceability and legitimacy of the origin of the fruit.
Gesvatec is used by breeders, IPR Companies and licensees of protected plant varieties to effectively monitor the legality of their protected products and have better control over the production of the legal origin of the product. Detecting illegal productions and identifying any possible irregularities that may arise in the process of commercialization not only protects the owner of the varieties but also the same producer from the illegal competition.
Grapa informs traders and retailers annually, of the use of the Gesvatec sticker, which had become an important tool for the supply chain to identify the legal origin of the produce. EU customs officers are also utilizing and checking if shipments carry the Gesvatec sticker. This has helped Grapa seize and subsequently destroy three illegal shipments in recent years with the last one being only a few months ago.
Follow this link for the full article published in FreshPlaza.
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We have a crush on this intense cherry-colour variety with its large, elongated, berries. This mid-late variety that boasts excellent sugar-acid balance, cherry flavour and sensational crunch, delights in appearance, taste and eating experience. Proven to be fully rain resistant, the variety also has excellent fertility and exceptional storage ability. It is the ultimate long shipping variety with the best shelf life in the industry.
ARRA CHERRY CRUSH™ literally has it all!
In short: THE ULTIMATE RED.
This established early red variety boasts a beautiful, natural, full red colour. It’s large, crunchy berries offer a fantastic eating quality. Good productivity, extraordinary hanging ability, shipping durability and shelf life, make it a choice early red.
The earliest existing red variety in the market ripens naturally 4-5 days before Flame. The advantageous short cycle, natural full red colour, together with large, sweet, crunchy berries make this a perfect Flame replacement. ARRA Fire Kiss has proven to be very fertile and grower friendly, as well as bearing great post-harvest and shipping qualities.