"Up to 4,000 boxes of strawberries shipped weekly to domestic customers"

The high prices of strawberries in late fall have confirmed the predictions of Loris Gentile, managing director of the Gentile Group, who warned in one of our articles in early September that transplants of early varieties would be down by 50 percent.

Current crop situation - bare root plants

"After several years of research into the varieties in the Metapontino area, we have identified varieties with high yields and high quality. The transplanting was done in the last ten days of September, and by the end of October the producers started to harvest the first fruits. Currently, we are able to offer 3,500 to 4,000 parcels per week to domestic customers. We will finish the 47th week of 2023 with an average of 60 grams/plant harvested. By the end of December, we aim to reach 250 grams."

Gentile Group's strawberry pans

The manager is already thinking about the next season: "In a few weeks we're going to start sterilizing nurseries in Spain and Poland, so by the end of the year we'll be able to finalize pre-orders for the 2024/25 campaign for bare-root plants. For this year, we estimated that we have secured 25-30% of the nursery market, but we aim to redirect it in the next campaign. The number of local cooperatives and farms choosing our selections, which is already higher than 12 months ago, will reach significant numbers next year. Some, as of today, are already ready to confirm and/or increase the areas of bare-root plants."