While the season in conventional top fruit has now commenced, the organic supply is an item as well. At VerKen Bio Deli-Vers, the picking of organic QTee© is now behind us and the Conference harvest will start soon. "In the resistant varieties, we see that we don't have too much to complain about, but regarding the overall harvest, we will get 60 to 70 per cent compared to last year," Gerard Kenens of the Loksbergen-based organic cultivation company explains.
"In terms of pears, we can actually be reasonably satisfied with the QTee," he continues. "The yield has been better than expected and qualitatively they actually look very good. We did have some early hail when the nets were not yet closed, but that all came out reasonably well. Now we haven't really had extreme hail either. In some places it has hailed much more fiercely, so locally you can see that people are much more affected by it, but we got away with it well with the QTee."
On the demand side, the grower also sees that the organic QTee is becoming more established. "Grading has now started and is actually running like other years. I don't exactly know what the QTee take-up is, but the orders are coming in again from BelOrta. With that, the organic supply still remains mainly on the Belgian market, and a small part of Germany. However, conventional QTee now goes all over the world via the Wouters family, so I see no reason why we couldn't eventually make that step with organic. Another 7-8 hectares have been added this year, so we also have to look more and more towards exports. There are opportunities there."
Gerard Kenens.
Young plots sensitive
Things are looking a little less rosy for Conference, Gerard says. "We are certainly not talking about a disaster, but Conference is somewhat more affected by the weather conditions in spring. Here, too, we see that we are still on the good side of the spectrum, but I have seen images of colleagues where the Conferences are not too good. These are mainly young plots that are still more susceptible to hail. It is very variable between the different regions. Regarding sales, on the other hand, I foresee few problems," he continues. "There are generally fewer organic Conference pears this year, which means we will sell them, so I am not worried about that."
Quest for resistant varieties
The effects of the poor weather conditions are also spilling over to the Jonagold. "We all had small apples hanging in spring, but the early hail and gloomy weather caused a lot of moulting in the Jonagold. Moreover, scab did take hold here, and also with the Conference. As a result, you see that the quality is fine, but a lot will go to the industry because of scab infestation. Conventional goods are already suffering a lot from this."
"We are therefore focusing more and more on resistant varieties. For example, the Natyra apple is already looking much better because it is more resistant to early hail and dark weather. Moreover, next winter we will also plant one and a half hectares of the Wouters family's T-133 variety. For pears, we are already doing it with the QTee and PiqaBoo as well. We simply have to look more and more towards resistant varieties in the current times. Then it is very nice to have the support of the Wouters family with the varieties they develop at their trial centre. We can discuss the possibilities with varieties and give continuous advice on cultivation. It's wonderful to see how they stand behind their products."
For more information:
Gerard Kenens
VerKen Bio Deli-Vers
Zilveren-Helmenstraat 74
3545 Loksbergen, Belgium
Tel: +32 474199809