Meiosis at Karlsruhe Expo SE

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Expo SE has proven again to be an excellent occasion to meet many of our licence holders and friends in one place. Although there was perceived to be a reduction in the number of visitors who attended the show compared with previous years, we hope that it has been a successful event for all the exhibitors.

German fruit producers had a very difficult season due to an extremely dry and hot summer in 2018, resulting in a compressed season, smaller fruit and lower prices.  Investment decisions therefore need to be carefully considered and there was perceived to be a reduction not only in visitor numbers but in the orders being placed for new machinery and equipment by visitors.

Fruit plant propagators in the Netherlands were not too badly affected by the hot summer, although the water shortages in Germany meant water tankers were sometimes needed to maintain supplies for irrigation.  However, overall propagators reported excellent plant quality this year, which will help fruit growers to bounce back in 2019.

We were pleased to observe the still growing popularity of Malling™ Centenary, with some excellent samples of Dutch glasshouse fruit on display.  There was also early interest in the new late Junebearer Malling™ Allure and the new everbearer Malling™ Champion, which will both be launched in 2019.

Marionnet SAS had some attractive samples of Magnum on display, which had excellent flavour and fruit firmness and continues to maintain a place in the premium tier of multiple retailers in the UK and on the continent.

We wish all our friends and licence holders a speedy recovery from the challenges of last summer, and look forward to seeing everyone early in the new year at the ISFC in Den Bosch and TSW in Warsaw.

Meiosis Team

****TELEPHONE CHANGES****

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Please note that on Wednesday the 5th December 2018 we will be having our telephone lines changed over.

This may cause disruption to our telephone service.

If you have any trouble getting through, please call +44(0)7484509898

Apologies if that causes any inconvenience.

Meiosis Team

Malling™ Centenary Production Guidelines

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Meiosis is happy to present a comprehensive guideline for fruit producers of Malling™ Centenary which was commissioned by Meiosis and prepared by Delphy.

We hope these guidelines will help fruit growers to optimise their production of this excellent variety.

For more details please follow the link Malling™ Centenary Production Guidelines for fruit growers

Meiosis Team

Fruit Attraction in Madrid

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Meiosis again this year visited Fruit Attraction in Madrid.

As usual, the show was very well attended and appeared even bigger than in the previous years.

Meiosis attendees were able to have various meetings with our clients from around the world (Mexico, France, Spain, Italy, Morocco, Ukraine etc..) in one show, which made the trip worthwhile, and we were also able to make new contacts.

Meiosis Team

Best Berries Trade Show in Lublin

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Last weekend Meiosis attended the Best Berries trade show in Lublin, Poland, for the second time. This fairly small event takes place in the heart of the main raspberry growing region in Poland, which makes it strategically important to the whole Polish berry industry. It was a good opportunity for us to meet some of our licence holders and friends.

This year the organizers decided to bring the date of the show forward from December. Unfortunately, it did not seem to work very well as the exceptionally warm weather kept fruit growers busy in the fields. The total number of visitors was 2230.

On Sunday the II Eastern Strawberry Conference took place with the main theme – ‘Technologies and varieties for difficult times.’ We particularly welcomed Mr Zwierzynski’s comments about the importance of respecting the Breeders’ rights to varieties.
Meiosis Team

Polish Strawberry Season

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Meiosis would like to share translated extracts from two articles recently published in the Polish magazine ‘Truskawka, Malina, Jagody‘ 9/2018 pages 14-18, which shed light on Polish berry market in 2018.

‘Season in the eyes of the strawberry growers’ by Michal Malicki
Overall the 2018 strawberry season in Poland can be considered successful. The main problem was the shortage of labour. Difficulties with employing seasonal workers meant that production of strawberries for processing was almost not cost-effective. The unusually hot weather also surprised many fruit growers. The past season proved that only production of the highest quality strawberries for the fresh market will be profitable in the future.

‘Strawberry growers’ views of the 2018 season in Poland’ by Lukasz Zaremba
For most of the Polish berry fruit producers the past year was disastrous in economical terms. Even raspberries, which until now have been profitable, gave disappointing results. Low demand for raspberries for processing markets was the main problem, as well as the increase in supply of cheap fruit from Ukraine.
After Spain, Poland is the biggest producer of strawberries in the EU. Although the crop area in Poland is almost seven times larger, the Spanish produce twice as much, around 400k tons of fruit every year. Poland specialises in strawberry production for processing – 70% of the overall crop. Because of the increasing problems with labour the large fruit growers have been forced to decrease their production areas.
Export of Polish strawberries to Ukraine has fallen by 88% in the last six years and import of soft fruit has risen, despite even bigger problems with seasonal workers. Import of frozen strawberries between 2016 and 2018 has risen by 6.2k tons. Other imports came mainly from Germany, Egypt, China and Holland. At the same time exports of frozen strawberries has decreased from 54k tons in 2015 to about 36k tons in 2018.
Imports of dessert/fresh strawberries occur mainly between March and May, when local Polish fruit is not yet available. Exports of Polish fresh strawberries are relatively small, the main recipients being Belarus and Germany.

Malling™ Centenary continues getting good press.

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The most recent publication in FreshPlaza, 20th August 2018, ‘Malling™ Centenary is the June bearer to beat‘, describes Malling™ Centenary’s continuing success across Great Britain, from Kent to Scotland.

The popularity of the variety widely praised for its taste, shelf-life and low picking costs is reflected in the significant increase in plant production. Useful tips are given by those who have already gained experience in cultivation of Malling™ Centenary.

For the Polish readers a paraphrased version of the article is also available at: http://jagodnik.pl/malling-centenary-coraz-bardziej-popularna-i-uznana-odmiana/ .

Meiosis Team

 

 

Malling™ Allure at Hugh Lowe Farms

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Congratulations to Marion and Jon Regan from Hugh Lowe Farms for being awarded the Fruiterers Company medal for the Most Meritorious Exhibit of soft fruit at the recent Cherry and Soft Fruit show.

We are pleased to read in The Fruit Grower magazine* that the farm’s success is associated particularly with NIAB EMR’s new late season June-bearer Malling™ Allure, which Marion tipped as a variety that growers should consider growing.

 

*The Fruit Grower, August 2018 ‘Record number of entries and new faces at Cherry and Soft Fruit Show’ by Joanna Wood pp.25-27.

 

Meiosis Team

Malling™ Centenary success story in KentOnline

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Publication of an article about Malling™ Centenary in KentOnline coincided with the recent industry event, Fruit Focus, on 25th July 2018.

We are pleased to see that good news about this excellent variety spreads not only abroad but also locally.

Meiosis Team

David Simpson Retires

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Dr David Simpson, until recently the leader of the strawberry breeding team at NIAB EMR, retired at the beginning of 2018.  To mark the occasion, members of the East Malling Strawberry Breeding Club made a presentation to David of a voucher to buy equipment for David’s new hobby – welding!

David reminisced that he started the strawberry breeding programme while based at Long Ashton Research Station near Bristol in 1979, and subsequently relocated to East Malling in 1983.  Since then, an estimated 500 million plants of East Malling varieties have been sold.

Meiosis wishes David a long, happy and fulfilling retirement.

Meiosis Team