Portrait of a sweet cherry breeder: Gregorio Lopez-Ortega
18 Jan 2024
n this article, José Quero García, member of the technical-scientific committee of Cherry Times, interviewed Gregorio Lopez-Ortega, breeder at the Chilean company Hortifrut.
After a relatively slow start for the Turkish cherry-producing regions due to the warm temperatures, the campaign is about to kick into high gear with the arrival of larger volumes of Ziraat 0900. According to Kerim Taner, CEO of Perla Fruit, Turkish cherries have had a slow start in the domestic market this season, despite the harvest starting early.
“This week we started slowly for the domestic market with the early cherry varieties,” he stated. “The harvest started slightly early, but the yields are very limited in the first regions of Turkey due to the warm temperatures and the hot winds that burn the flowers and cause poor fruit set.”
We expect better yields in the coming days and weeks with our Ziraat 0900 variety,” he said, “although the overall harvest is estimated to be below normal.” The weather forecast for the next few days is warm and sunny. We pray for a dry harvesting period that will give us the opportunity to use the crop on the trees.”
According to the Turkish news agency Railly News, Germany will be the main importer of Turkish cherries in 2023, with a value of 95.5 million dollars, followed by Russia and Austria.
Uçak stated that the next steps will be to confirm phytosanitary certification agreements with East Asian countries, especially with China, and to follow Chile in its greater use of air transportation. The goal for this season, Uçak said during a visit to cherry orchards in the Şehzadeler district of Manisa, is to reach 120,000 tons of cherry exports worth 300 million dollars.
Read the full article: Fruitnet
Image: Demirel Kardesler
