“Usually, growers harvest slightly earlier for export than they do for the national market. This is done to reach a better shelf life and less quality issues at the arrival. However, harvesting earlier means exporting melons that are not mature or ready to eat and sometimes as well lacks flavour. Since the beginning of this year we have changed our melons harvest point, so now it’s the same for the melons we export as for the melons that we sell in the national market”, explains Adriana.
Adriana continues: “We were only able to reach the same harvesting point, because we changed our fertilization system and field procedures to make the fruits stronger. As well, we adjusted our postharvest and cold chain procedures. With the result that we are able to offer our sweet melons and ready to eat, all year round with the same 45 days of shelf life as we offered before. We also had our first SMETA and Rain Forest audits, besides the GlobalGAP, GRASP and Field to Fork certifications.”
“We harvest our melons year-round, so we also plant year-round with almost the same amount of hectares every week. In 2017, the plan is to plant the same varieties like last year and in the same volumes. Regarding to Europe, we usually meet almost all our distributors during the FruitLogistica exhibition. Together, we set up the programmes for the coming European season, with arrivals from September to February. The months after, we make the necessary adjustments to increase production if necessary, in order to start supplying the distributors with the programmed volumes as soon as the season starts.”
According to Adriana the climate has already influences their activities for years. “It’s already the 5th year in a row that the region of Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte is suffering from drought. We had to reduce our production in Ceará, where we usually harvest our bigger volumes every year, since we didn’t get the permission from the government to irrigate our total area, to assure the necessary water for the state capital, Fortaleza, for consumption. Luckily, we have production fields in other states as well, with enough water that permits our commitments to our customers.”
Each producing country, usually has its melon season. Itaueira works with these countries in Europe when the country is not in the harvesting period. “Spain, France, and Italy are countries that have a few months without own production, but when in season, they provide melons and watermelons to their neighbours with far better logistic costs. However, we supply quality melons for niche markets, so some companies in Europe rather work with us on a year-round basis and same quality, instead of having to switch melon suppliers every few months. Moreover, we intend to keep those companies confident in our work and quality.”
Itaueira is working with both Coolfresh and Hillfresh as distributors in The Netherlands. Adriana concludes: “Coolfresh is providing our REI melons to our existing customers all around Europe, while Hillfresh is working with new clients and a different brand - CEPI melons - in mainly North Europe. The quality of the melons is the same, however the brand label and packaging colours differ.”
