The green, smooth-skinned Bacon organic avocado variety is now in season in southern Spain.
"We started marketing the first Bacon organic avocados on October 5, and have been at full capacity in terms of volume for a week now," stated Fernando Martin, general manager of the Bio Procam cooperative based in Motril, Granada. "We will continue to supply Bacon avocado until mid-November when we'll switch to the Fuerte variety, which we'll offer for two or three weeks."
"The Bacon season has started very well in terms of demand and prices. Prices have dropped compared to the first week of marketing but the fruit is now at its best organoleptic point," Fernando Martín stressed. "This year we expect a limited avocado harvest, just like last year, but with an abundance of medium and large sizes and, in my opinion, better quality," he added.
"The demand for Bacon is good because there is still not much Spanish Hass available in the market. Once this variety starts to become plentiful, most buyers stop buying smooth-skin avocados. In the past, some supermarket chains continued to sell this avocado variety, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to sell it when there's enough Hass available," stated the manager of this cooperative from Granada.
"At the moment there is also a supply of Hass avocados from Morocco, but since they do not have organic certification, they do not represent competition for us," Fernando Martín stressed. Bio Procam will start marketing the first Hass avocados in mid to late November.
The cooperative continues to increase its avocado planted area, but production has still not increased due to weather issues. "In the last three years we've had rather limited yields in relation to the cultivated area, as a consequence of the impact of continuous heat waves that affect flowering and fruit set," Martín stated.
Bio Procam is making progress with its organic Dutch and French-style cucumber lines, which include the snack cucumber. They've had aubergine and pepper available since the end of September and are about to start with zucchini and beans.
The tomato season will start in about two weeks, about three weeks later than usual. "Everyone calls us asking if we can offer tomatoes now, but this year they were planted later. In general, the vegetable season has started with good demand and high prices," the manager of Bio Procam stated.
For more information:
Fernando Martín
BIO PROCAM
Ctra. Almeria km. 1,6- Motril (Granada). Spain
Tel: +34 958600306
Email: [email protected]
www.procamsca.com