The General Assembly of the Association of National Plum Organizations (AOPn Prune) was held in Moissac (France) last week. The focus was on the 2019 campaign, which promises to be a good one for the sector. Perhaps it will make us forget the one in 2018, which was hampered by bad weather.
Chaired by Joel Boyer, the AOPn noted that many indicators are encouraging even if, on the side of Spanish and Italian competitors, significant harvests were announced. "The plum continues to recruit new consumers step by step, up 43 % from 38 % a few years ago. The image of our fruit has resolutely changed: younger, more modern, fresh, colourful, tasty... We must maintain a strategy of varietal innovation, colour segmentation and an emphasis on tastes that are successful," he said. He also highlighted the value of the Reine-Claude plum, while taking into account the development of new products, such as American-Japanese varieties with good conservation potential and which are truly successful in the pre-packaged segment.
One of the other topics of the meeting was respect for the environment and consumer health : "Let us communicate our know-how in terms of environmentally friendly practices," President Boyer said, adding: "Our plum-integrated fruit production charter has been recognised for three years now as equivalent to the environmental certification 2."
In addition, the AOPn prune confirmed its membership of the national association for the development of the "High Environmental Value" certification, which is becoming an important purchasing criterion for consumers.
In France, the 3rd largest producer in Europe, it is the Occitan Region that plants the most (+25 %) and mainly new varieties.
Source : ladepeche.fr