As highlighted by Ifapa's estimate of the varietal composition of Huelva's 2022/2023 strawberry campaign, there is a significant decrease in the planting of the Fortuna strawberry. Despite this decrease, however, this strawberry from the University of Florida continues to be the most cultivated variety for the eighth consecutive season. This year, with a 16.1% share, i.e., 15% less than last season and 19.7% less than in the 2020-2021 campaign.
One of the reasons for the decline of Florida is that its breeder, Ekland Marketing Company Inc. (EmcoCAL) is immersed in a stage of renewal of varieties that surpass the best qualities of Fortuna, such as Felicity, Beauty, or Brilliance, in addition to launching Florida Pearl, a premium white strawberry that has one of its production bases in the province of Huelva.
Rociera, a strawberry variety from Fresas Nuevos Materiales S.A., continues to be as the second-most planted variety with a 13.5% share, i.e., 3% less than in the previous season (16.5%).
Other varieties of this program, such as Primoris, have less than a 0.5% share. Rabida and Candy have a 1.5% and a 1.3% share, respectively. Meanwhile, the Marisma variety experienced a significant increase rising to 4.5%.
Plant Sciences exclusive varieties (among which Inspire stands out) are the third most planted varieties in this campaign, just as in the previous campaign with a 9% share, the same percentage as in the 2021-2022 campaign. This year, the Victory variety experienced a slight increase which confirms the significant increase it had in the previous campaign. This year it accounts for a 6% share, last year for 5.2%, and in the 2020-2021 campaign for less than 2.5%.
The volume of Fresh Forward Inc's Calinda variety planted decreased a little this year. It went from having a 6.2% share last year to 5.6% this year. It's worth noting that the Fandango variety, another strawberry variety of this program, achieved a 1.2% share.
The Palmerita variety of Masiá Ciscar S.A. increased from a 6.1% share in the last campaign to 6.5% in this one. The Leticia variety has achieved a 4.7% share in this campaign. Finally, the Leyre variety accounts for 1% of the varieties planted.
It is worth noting that the number of varieties that have a 1.5 to 10% share has increased in this campaign. In the previous campaign, there were 9 varieties in this range. In this campaign, there are 13.
Finally, there are two novelties in the group of varieties that have a 1% to 1.5% share that stands out in this campaign: the Candela variety from Innofru SL and the Arwen variety from Berries del Oeste SL.
Source: agrodiariohuelva.es