"Although the weather of the past year is forcing us to remain realistic and wait for the end of the season to make an assessment, we could say that the citrus fruit campaign has been one to be remembered with good prices, yet with reduced volumes because of an unusual and unstable weather," explains Giovanni Scavo, sales manager at Il Girasole Soc. Coop.
Il Girasole is a cooperative located at Paternò (CT) in Sicily, at the foothills of Mount Etna. The sales calendar lasts all year round with early and late citrus fruit including Navel, Tarocco, Moro, Sanguinello, Nova clementines and late Ciaculli tangerines. Summer fruits include apricots, peaches and nectarines.
"We have had to deal with various difficulties: last spring was very warm, followed by a long torrid summer and a particularly mild fall and early winter. Then there was a hurricane in February 2023 and Easter was actually much colder than Christmas. Of course trees were stressed by it."
"We are among the few companies that still have some good Tarocco oranges. Blood oranges were still the most popular product during this cold month of April. Early stone fruit is still not competitive, although the first batches are entering the market. The flavor is still uncertain and prices are very high."
Tarocco Gallo will still be available until the end of April, together with blond Valencia and Oval oranges. "Tarocco Meli and Sant'Alfio will become available on the first week of May, thus getting closer to the end of the season with both red and blond oranges."
"The intense smell and large quantity of orange flowers make us hopeful for next year, although the first and probably the hardest challenge we will be faced with will be the procurement and saving of water resources."
"At Il Girasole, we are doing the best we can to optimize the use of water. Reservoirs are present in all our citrus fruit groves, so the soil is irrigated with drip systems. In addition, we irrigate during the night to avoid losing water due to evaporation and thus have estimated saving around 30% of water resources to make our productions increasingly sustainable."
For further information: 
Il Girasole Soc. Coop.
Giovanni Scavo
VIA Francesco Petrarca, 51
95047 Paternò (CT) - Italy
(+39) 095 623381
(+39) 337 950 732
[email protected]
www.ilgirasolearance.com