Voor-Groenberg Nurseries, or VG Nurseries, have picked up a fair bit of experience during their 36 years, says Casper Brink operations manager. Made up of four propagation locales run separately, Vitis vinifera is the focus, with a roughly 50:50 split between table and wine grapes, plus a smattering of raisins.
January is traditionally in the Southern Hemisphere season for table grape field days. With Brink's colleague Gerhardt van Bosch, they've been attending all those hosted by the various breeding programmes. The industry is finally getting closer to what it needs, they reckon, and some new cultivars are creating a buzz.
From the ARRA varieties stable drops ARRA Honey Pop™ (billed as "one of the earliest whites in the world", and garnering attention particularly from growers in South Africa's early northern region, Bosch observes) and ARRA Fire Crunch™, a red seedless. Creating excitement countrywide is Sugrafiftythree, part of Sun World's Ruby Rush™ range, while Navsel 44 from Bloomfresh, another early white variety, was eliciting interest from growers at a recent field day.
"All of the breeding programmes are looking for early white and early red varieties to replace Flame, which is more moving over to the drying side," says Casper Brink. VG Nurseries holds the license to propagate the genetics owned by ARRA, Sun World, and Bloomfresh, and on behalf of the latter two they run a plant improvement organisation.
He notes that breeders are making progress in the search for powdery mildew-resistant cultivars, a development that would go some way towards helping farmers meet increasingly strict rules surrounding chemical applications.
No one wants to see producers paying "school fees"
It's important to stay objective between the different breeding programmes, Van Bosch remarks and during his intensive rounds of farm visits from March to July, before orders for the following year close, he listens to what farmers tell him they need. Working very closely with the technical teams on the various breeding programmes, he offers suggestions, always trying to present more than one option for a specific window.
A myriad of factors like soil type play a role and he emphasizes that the final decision rests with the producer. But as far as he can, he shares what they learn not only at local field days but also at the annual field days hosted in Bakersfield, California, and Murcia Spain. "It's fantastic to attend the international field days," Van Bosch says. Brink observes that it deepens one's appreciation for the years of trial and error before a breeder uncovers a winner that will make it to store shelves.
Adds Van Bosch: "We see it as our purpose to keep the industry informed of global developments and trends. It's part of our job to keep the industry excited." He observes that no one wants to see any more producers paying their "school fees", as the expensive mistakes that have been made in the past are called. "We want to walk a distance with the farmer. Establishing new vines is a twelve to fifteen-year investment, perhaps even twenty years if the variety does the job. We want the farmer to put together a portfolio of cultivars that will let his packhouse operate as smoothly as it can, avoiding the bottlenecks."
The best-laid plans in the vineyard will, however, always remain at the mercy of the weather for, as he remarks, "we're all farming under the big blue blanket."
Farming under the big blue blanket
Stability among top choices
A 2023 census among South Africa's viticulture nurseries indicates that the cultivars in highest demand are, and have been for the past couple of years, the following: Sweet Globe™, Sugrathirtyfive (Autumncrisp™), Crimson Seedless, Sweet Celebration™, Ivory™, Prime Seedless, Redglobe, Flame and Timpson™.
The resurgence in popularity of Redglobe surprised them, but its big berry is in demand and there's a pull from African buyers.
But when Crimson is in season, that's all African importers want. Voor-Groenberg Nursery is working on a Crimson selection in collaboration with Michael Vorster from De Doorns that potentially has a bigger berry and good colour. Orders for black grapes have dwindled, as well as for early reds like Flame and the Agricultural Research Council's Joybells cultivar.
Towards August international grape growers start contacting VG Nurseries to hear what will be available for the export season that starts around August and September. Dormant vines that are still available during the season are exported when the breeders give permission. "We've built up a fairly large footprint in Egypt. We'll be sending a large shipment to Egypt this year, we've in the past supplied other Egyptian growers with plant material as well. When they have shortages they know we will do our best to source vines for them."
VGNurseries will attend table grape variety field days from 14 to 18 July in California and 19 & 20 August in Spain.
For more information:
Gerhardt van Bosch
Voor-Groenberg Nurseries
Tel: +27 21 864 1018
Cell: +27 76 180 6871
Email: vgroenberg@vgb.co.za
https://www.vgnurseries.com/