24 October 2018
We have just returned from an exciting few days on asparagus business in Cesena, Italy, last week. It was a really well organised event that combined a conference with trade exhibits as well as practical field demonstrations. Visitors came from across the globe, from the majority of the most important asparagus production regions. It was a great place to discuss the asparagus crop in many different growing and sales environments.
At Global Plant Genetics, we were there to present a paper on the asparagus hybrids from the University of Guelph. This included a detailed background to the breeding program as well as how seed is produced and distributed from Canada by Fox Seeds Inc. The paper then looked at the commercially available asparagus varieties from the program, namely Guelph Millennium, Guelph Eclipse and Guelph Equinox. Each of these cultivars offers growers with specific advantages in cool and temperate climates in terms of yield, spear quality and field longevity. Global Plant Genetics holds an exclusive licence for the distribution of asparagus seeds of these cultivars within Europe and Russia. The presentation then moved on to look at what might be coming next from the breeding program. Those interested in a copy of the paper can make contact through the following:
Email: solutions@asparagusseeds.com
Website: www.asparagusseeds.com
As well as the organised events, the occasion presented a great opportunity to meet with asparagus colleagues and friends from all over the world. We enjoyed detailed discussions about the challenges of the past asparagus season as well as opinions on how to overcome these going forward. We always find the asparagus community to be one that is happy to share knowledge in order to improve the overall position for growers across the world. Whether you produce green or white asparagus in hot or cooler climates, many of the problems and opportunities encountered are similar, so it is great to discuss these. This was especially the case at the gala dinner on the first evening where there was intense debate about post-harvest practices across 7 countries.
Congratulations to the organisers of the Asparagus Days in Cesena last week and we hope that there will be more to come in the near future.
That’s it for now, our next destination is Madrid for Fruit Attraction. You’ll be hearing from us again very soon!
