In this week’s edition of our Newsletter, we are proud to share with our readers the successful Brazilian ARRA Field days held in Petrolina. In addition, we are excited to showcase the opening of the early ARRA™ varieties’ harvest season in South Africa and Namibia.  Last but not least, we bring you news of the successful ARRA Sugar Drop™ production, in Queensland, Australia. 

The Grapa team in Brazil, Augusto Prado, Russaika Nascimento, Amanda Rodrigues and Alana Gois, held an incredibly well-organized field day in order to present the new promising varieties currently under evaluation in Brazil. The successful event brought together over 300 people including producers, agronomists, technicians as well as members of partner companies. The Grapa Brazil Team accompanied by Grapa R&D director, Uzi Yaron, Grapa Finance Director, Vered Karniel and Karl Conrads, ARRA Varieties Agent in South America, visited the Coopexvale ARRA test block area, located in Prado Agrícola farm. Below we share with you some pictures taken during the event where the good atmosphere radiates.
During the field tour, which was held over the course of 3 days, new ARRA varieties selections were introduced to the participants and the growers who had the opportunity to taste each one as well as to evaluate them via an online questionnaire that was made available via QR code.
A big thank you to all the sponsors that made this event an even bigger success. The companies representatives provided the producers a unique experience and the participants were able to learn about the latest technologies in the field.
Amanda describes the event:” The ARRA program, with its diversity of colors and flavors, presented the best out of the very promising new selection aiming to meet the expectations of producers in their search for productive varieties, resistant to rain, with high fertility and good eating quality in order to ultimately fulfill the demand of today’s market”.

96% answered “Yes” when asked “Would you plant this variety?”, appointing the red selection ARRA 94B-35+4 as the biggest star of this Brazilian Field Days, undoubtedly the champion of the survey.  In addition to the high yield and a totally natural coloring, the “cherry” flavor is what most attracted our producers. Today this is the red selection that presents better resistance to rain in Brazil, demonstrating great performance after 150 mm of rain.

ARRA 94B-35+4

ARRA 93B-35+7 is another very promising selection that caught everyone’s attention. This white mid-season selection has a great sugar/acid balance and a delicate Muscat flavor, making it the next most sought-after variety for planting in Brazil. This season, we saw continued exceptional results after the great potential showcased during the first harvest. ARRA 93B-35+7, after 100mm rain, did not present any cracks or reduced quality.

ARRA 94B-35+4

ARRA 93B-35+7 is another very promising selection that caught everyone’s attention. This white mid-season selection has a great sugar/acid balance and a delicate Muscat flavor, making it the next most sought-after variety for planting in Brazil. This season, we saw continued exceptional results after the great potential showcased during the first harvest. ARRA 93B-35+7, after 100mm rain, did not present any cracks or reduced quality.

Last week we showcased the noteworthy ARRA Sugar Drop™ from Wurlin farm in Emerald. This week we are glad to share additional good feedback that we received about ARRA 30 and the successful harvest in Fruit Master’s Farm in Emerald, Queensland.

The creamy shiny color of ARRA 30, its attractive shape, and high yield make it a special early white variety that received very good feedback from different regions around the world.

Mark Leng, from Fruit Master, reports: “We are truly excited by the performance of our ARRA Sugar Drop this season from our farm in Emerald, Queensland. These were the first white grapes we supplied to our retailers and markets agents this year and feedback was very encouraging. The flavor was a stand out from all other grapes that were available.”

ARRA Sugar Drop ready to reach the australian's shelves

Mark concludes: “The earliness of the variety opens a unique window of supply that is currently unfulfilled, couple this with the potential yield and flavor ARRA Sugar Drop is a winner”.

The Southern Hemisphere is in full swing, and along with our campaign
“AS EARLY AS ARRA” we want to share with you the cream of the early crop from South Africa and Namibia.

he ARRA varieties and Early Sweet harvest season has just begun in Namibia and South Africa and TopFruit, ARRA varieties’ Agent in Southern Africa, is proud to report that in all provinces and growing areas, the ARRA varieties are looking extremely good and the season looks really promising. Fertility is good in all varieties and everyone is looking forward to the harvest, especially of the very early ARRA 29 (ARRA Passion Fire™) and ARRA 33 (ARRA Honey Pop™).

Below is just a sneak peek. We will report more about this new ARRA season in our next edition.

ARRA 29 (ARRA Passion Fire) ORVI, Namibia
ARRA 33 (ARRA Honey Pop), Blouputs, Gamcaip Grape Farms, South Africa

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