"OP Ioppì's flagship reference, which is known to insiders, is tomatoes. But there is more! We grow the main greenhouse vegetable references, such as eggplants, bell peppers, courgettes, and other crops," says Roberta Tardera, marketing manager and sales assistant of the producer organization, based in the Sicilian area specializing in horticulture, which extends across the southern coast of the island, the so-called Fascia Trasformata.
Roberta Tardera
"This season has been very anomalous compared to other years," pointed out the manager, who has inherited her know-how from a long experience gained from her family, "The high temperatures in November and December anticipated the ripening of the fruit on the plants, which caused an excess of production compared to market demand, resulting in a drop in prices.
"Temperatures stabilized in the following months," continued Tardera, "but we carried with us the aftermath of a climate that was out of control! Productions suffered due to high humidity, and, to make things worse, in February, an intense flood hit southeastern Sicily, causing damage in some areas that affected almost all of the yields. The only positive note that characterized our production season was a strong demand from foreign markets, especially in northern Europe, between the months of February and March. Now price quotations in the tomato market have dropped by 30 percent compared to previous months."
In order to keep up with the times, it is essential to take care of the many aspects of the production and marketing of horticultural crops. What are the steps being taken?
Macfrut 2023 "Yes, that is correct! A growers' organization such as ours cannot sit idly by but must constantly open up to new initiatives," answered the interviewee. "During the next Macfrut fair, in fact, there will be an event to launch a project we have already been working on for several months. This is the digital campaign notebook, which is a solution we adopted back in 2017. We pioneered the use of innovative systems in our territory - a choice that allowed us to have a great advantage even during the pandemic. Thanks to these decisions, today, our partners Image-Line and RINA have picked us to be part of the first pilot project that certifies the quality of our products through the digital system. In fact, one of our challenges for 2023 is precisely to increasingly improve and deepen our traceability systems so that we can have accurate and transparent information for consumers and those in the supply chain."
OP Ioppì will be at Macfrut 2023 in Hall. B4, stand 034.
For more information:
Roberta Tardera
OP Ioppì
[email protected]
www.ioppi.eu