Celery and broccoli specialists available all year round

Even a sector like celery needs continuous evolution, and Fortini is leading the way. The company was founded by Gaetano Fortini and later managed by his brothers Sergio and Fabio Fortini: the former currently oversees the Italian site (in the province of Bologna), while Fabio lives in Spain and oversees Hortofortini España (Murcia region). In charge of the Italian plant is Simone Fortini, Sergio's son.

"Already years ago, we undertook an evolution of process and product differentiation. The result of our research and experimentation can be seen both in the fields and in the factory. For example, at the Castello d'Argile site, we have installed new processing lines that also make use of robots to shift crates and individual celery plants to greatly reduce the repetitive and low-level work that alienates staff in the long run," explains Francesco Boselli, the company's agronomist.

But process innovation does not stop there: "In order to obtain celery of the same length, we have adopted high-pressure water cutting at around 2000 bar, which is much sharper than traditional blade cutting. This innovation also increases shelf life, as oxidation is reduced."

When it comes to products, Fortini focuses on differentiation. "Celery is produced in various formats depending on customer requirements: long with leaves, 35 cm, celery hearts, sticks, etc... The three types of celery grown by Fortini, i.e., green celery, white celery, and bleached-mature celery, are available in all the formats. The different format-type combinations meet the needs of a wide range of customers ranging from big retail chains, wholesale markets and small and medium-sized processors.

The celery market is characterised by a certain stability. On the supply front, "the 'new' campaign is starting with protected-cultivation celery produced in Fondi. Then, from the end of May, production from the Rimini area in Romagna begins, which continues until December. Then there are also the productions from Fucino and Puglia, and from our Spanish subsidiary all year round. In short, we hardly lack produce, considering the diversification of our cultivation areas."

Fortini also produces broccoli, which now accounts for 40% of volumes compared to celery, which stands at 55%. "We have been investing in broccoli for many years so as to differentiate production and not depend on a single product. The broccoli market is more volatile than the celery market due to production fluctuations. For example, in February, there was an overlapping of transplants and the market was affected by high quantities, with a slowdown in prices. Now the situation is improving."

Fortini Ortofrutticoli mainly supplies the Italian market, while HortoFortini España, based in the Murcia region, is structured to supply the European market as well as other continents such as North America (Canada) and other states such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

'We have also started with Iceberg salad, which currently occupies about 5% of our volumes. We specialise in celery and broccoli, but we are looking to grow more Iceberg in the coming years to complete our range."

For more information
Fortini Ortofrutticoli srl
Via Provinciale Nord, 23
40050 Castello d'Argile (BO) Italy
+39 051.976684
amministrazione@fortiniortofrutticoli.com
commerciale@fortiniortofrutticoli.com
www.fortiniortofrutticoli.com