Join us, this week, as we introduce the newest section of the ARRA family - the ARRA Red Factor- where we also reveal the freshest ARRA tradenames. Then, you can see how India continues to make headlines. Finally, don't miss our new column, where we chat with international ARRA agronomists to learn more about their experiences and insights. Let's get started!

Israel Early Birds

In the Jordan Valley, the earliest ripening region in Israel, the very early ARRA varieties are already being harvested and reaching the markets, where they are in great demand and fetching the highest prices.

The first ARRA Honey Pop™ (ARRA 33) crop is truly mesmerizing, it was grown in the greenhouses of Hen Solomon, Salmor Grapes.

Beautiful creamy colour and uniform bunches of Salmor’s ARRA Honey Pop

Chen Solomon’s excitement is apparent when he tells us about his recent harvest: “Grapa is responsible for making a good variety and I’m responsible to grow it well, then, all that remains is to wait for the excellent results.” He continues to explain his fantastic growing experience: “It’s a real pleasure to work with such an easy to grow variety.”

Chen waited for the perfect timing for harvest, he saw the fruit grow, become crunchy and then ultimately develop the excellent delicate flavour. On May 2 the grapes were ready to harvest, which is truly remarkable as this is early, even for the Jordan valley which is the earliest in the region. Another great advantage of this variety is that it can be harvested in one pass. Chen describes “I went into the row after the harvest and the vines were totally stripped clean, because the bunches were all ready and uniform, ready to pick in one go”.

ARRA Honey Pop
But that’s not all, another very early red variety is currently under evaluation at Salmor Grapes. This variety too, has amazing timing, is easy to grow and reaches a striking beautiful colour with no colour treatment.
New very early ARRA red selection
The new very early ARRA red selection and ARRA Honey Pop: the perfect match
Egypt: on your marks, get set, harvest:
This week marked the beginning of the Early Sweet™ harvest in Egypt. Eng. Fayez Dowidar, Technical Support Manager of ARRA in Egypt, reports “The season looks good and is even earlier than last year, additionally the natural thinning was very good.”
Early Sweet Harvest at PICO's farm
He continues: ”As this season was especially early, the veraison stage was consequently very short, which slightly impacted the fruit weight, but the results are nonetheless at the desired quality level.”  As the harvest continues, the markets in Europe are waiting for the arrival of these sweet punnets.
Early Sweet from Egypt ready for the market
A glimpse of what is coming:
Although we will bring you news of the very early ARRA varieties in Egypt in the upcoming edition, we thought you’d appreciate a promo taste of the very early ARRA Honey Pop (ARRA 33) that will be ready to be harvested really soon…
ARRA Honey Pop (ARRA 33)

Macfruit, the Italian Fruit & Veg Professional exhibition was live in Rimini last week giving the chance to Italians as well as European professionals to meet face to face.

AVI, the exclusive European agent for ARRA grapes, participated in representing the ARRA varieties at the exhibition. The AVI’s team reports: “It is always a pleasure and a duty to be at the forefront during an exhibition of this calibre, that always promotes innovation in the agri-food sector. This year the first two days saw a greater turnout compared to the last one.

AVI's stand at MacFruit
In addition, many conferences and seminars on specific agri-food topics were held during the tradeshow, which made this exhibition even more worthwhile. Mr. Carlo Lingua was invited to hold a speech at the “Workshops on fruit breeding and new varieties”, with a specific focus on Table Grapes. During the workshop, Mr. Lingua Presented the new varieties of the ARRA program while focusing on how important it is to produce a top-quality table grape. 
This week, in our new column that gives a special focus on the ARRA agronomists around the world, we bring you a video interview. Our Marketing Manager, Erika Rosi had an interesting chat with Maurizio Simone and Marco Tempesta, in whose most experienced hands we entrust the ARRA program in Europe.
In their interview, Marco and Maurizio expressed their “crush” on ARRA Cherry Crush highlighting its intense cherry-colour 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!
 
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Join us in Egypt on June 13-14 for a special look at our exciting new generation of ARRA Varieties. Discover up close the extremely early red, black and white stars and explore commercial vineyards to get the large scale picture.

Save the dates California Field Days, the best place to see the full ARRA range, including the newly launched varieties, during the weeks of July 10th and August 21st. This year in Bakersfield, throughout these weeks, we will be offering small group visits to optimize your ARRA journey.

Details on registrations coming soon!