In this edition, we are excited to feature our fruitful experience from the Fruit Logistica 2023 exhibition in Berlin, as well as report first hand on the successful ARRA™ harvest and Field day held in India by Sahyadri Farms.
This year’s trade fair was back to its regular February timing, with pre-pandemic atmosphere, intensity and pace. It was exciting to meet with new players as well as with our partners, licensees, and friends from around the world. It’s clear that the table grape industry has many developments in store and Grapa is looking forward to leading the way. The three days of the Fruit Logistica Exhibition were packed with fruitful meetings, great ambiance and it was wonderful to see the Grapa – AVI stand so lively (AVI are the exclusive territorial representative for the ARRA varieties in Europe).
On display, visitors could enjoy a great selection of established and new ARRA Varieties from South Africa and Brazil, that were real eye-catchers. These received good feedback from the visitors at the stand and everyone enjoyed tasting them. The high quality of ARRA Sweeties™ was achieved due to the successful management of the TopFruit Team in South Africa and the Grapa Team in Brazil.
The red varieties were in the spotlight, ARD 35 and ARD 36 from Brazil attracted the most attention from visitors. ARD 36 really stood out for its striking, shiny cherry colour and elongated berries. These red varieties’ appearance and flavour fascinated everyone who saw and tasted them. We are definitely looking forward to seeing the future success of these new red selections, and we are happy to disclose that exporters and buyers are already recognizing their potential.
This year, we enjoyed hosting an ARRA Happy Hour at the stand at the end of a long and busy second day. Great fun was had by all and we are grateful for the opportunity to enjoy this special time with our international community.
We would like to convey our greatest gratitude to all of the ARRA growers who made the effort to send their ARRA grapes from around the world to be presented at our stand. We look forward to showing even more grapes next year!
Right after the closing of the exhibition, Nomi Karniel-Padan, Grapa’s Commercial Director and Uzi Yaron Grapa’s R&D Director, continued on a voyage to India, to see the performance of the ARRA Sweeties™ grown at Sahyadri farms and by their ever growing cooperative in Maharashtra. The harvest started last month and will continue until the end of February.
Over the past year, Uzi visited India several times and has led the technical team of Sahyadri Farms and their growers through all stages of the growing cycle. The focus was on the different growing practices required when transitioning from traditional to new generation varieties. In this, his 4th visit to-date, he enjoyed the fruit of the joint efforts and diligent work.
The areas owned and cultivated by growers in India are small-scale and each farmer’s living depends heavily on the ability to successfully market the yield. This is not an easy goal to achieve with Thompson Seedless, the main white variety traditionally and extensively grown in India. On top of the understandable challenges in growing Thompson, the ever-growing demand of the markets for new and advanced varieties has affected Thompson’s demand. Therefore it has become increasingly important to find new varieties that are most suitable and can withstand India’s climate.
ARRA Sweeties, due to its resilience to diverse weather conditions and heavy precipitation has been found to be suitable and thanks to the agreement between Grapa Varieties and Sahyadri Farms this variety is accessible to all the cooperative’s members. The move from producing Thompson to ARRA Sweeties came with its challenges but due to the motivation and determination of the local technical teams and growers, we can see today the significant change and success that this has brought to the cooperative.
Nomi recounts: “we visited the growers in their farms, for most of whom this is the second harvest and for some already the third. We met entire families of growers with smiling faces conveying their gratitude for the opportunity that has been given to them. Everywhere we went we were welcomed warmly with traditional felicitation ceremonies to honour our presence”.
During the Grapa visit Sayhadri held a field day at their trial block to present the participants with additional varieties from the ARRA range including the new generation red varieties, that offer a bright future for red varieties in this local industry. Around 400 attendees took part in this sensational event that was organized by the admirable Sahyadri Farms team at the highest level of professionalism.
Uzi shares his angle and vision: ”We started this season with eyes wide open, aware of the obstacles that we may encounter with the ARRA Sweeties but together with the Sahyadri team we manage to make all the fine-tuning necessary and reach very good results. It is apparent that the ARRA range is performing very well in India and we can expect that in the very near future Sahyadri is going to be one of the biggest suppliers of the ARRA varieties.
I want to thank the Sahyadri team for taking care of our varieties in such a professional manner. We still have a ways to go in India and I’m certain we’re on the right track.”
We are truly fortunate to have such a synergetic partnership in India. The Sahyadri management and technical team’s dedication to the ARRA programme, combined with their determination, cutting-edge technology and world-class operation, are absolutely remarkable.
After taking you, in this Newsletter to an international fair and to far away ARRA plantations, we would like to end back home, at the Grapa office. The Grapa team enjoyed a private, in-person presentation by Gilad Sadan, that was part of the Future Lab programme at Fruit Logistica 2023.
Gilad, a dear friend, but also the MD Of NAVI Co Global- Creative Agency , leads us through his vision he describes as Innovation island in a sea of rising costs. With his expertise and years of experience in sustainability and packaging as a marketing tool. Gilad shed light on the newest trends, challenges and delicate balances in this golden era of packaging.
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