Young but already great, both in numbers, ideas and future projects. The varieties of strawberries of Nova Siri Genetics (Nsg), a breeding company founded in 2005 in Policoro (Matera), already cover 55% of cultivation areas of Campania, 25% of those of Basilicata and about 30-40% of the areas of strawberries of Sicily and Calabria. Considerable production quotas announced yesterday by Nsg and Co-Founder and breeder Nicola Tufaro (opening photo), which testify the recent success of strawberries suitable for Mediterranean environments such as Melissa and Marisol and the latest novelties Gioelita®, Rossetta® and Marimbella®.
From these bases starts this year a structured project of varietal segmentation of Nova Siri Genetics’ offer, which takes shape concretely in the new Varietal Club. A supranational project based on partnerships with actors in the strawberry supply chain of Italy, Spain and the Maghreb countries: nurseries, producers and distributors of the traditional channel and the large-scale retailers.
"With the Varietal Club we want to enhance our strawberry varieties through an offer marked by solid partnerships along the supply chain and the use of brands that identify distinctive positions based on different consumer clusters," says Alida Stigliano, Marketing and Communications Manager (photo below).
The goal of the Varietal Club is to "standardize the encounter between supply and demand, breaking the price-based competition and creating an actual value perceived by the consumer and the entire supply chain. We therefore base our strategy on differentiation and aim to make available to producers and buyers a variety offer that can guard the shelf for eight/nine months a year." The pillars of the Club are two: "First, the partnerships with the world of production/ distribution, to organize the offer in terms of volumes, quality standards and production schedule, and brand policies - emphasizes Stigliano - Second, it will be fundamental to identify the distinctive positions of each of our varieties on the market. For each brand we will develop an ad hoc promotion and communications project, focusing on predetermined consumer clusters, to enhance the product."
“Our company offers its own varieties, the result of its research activity, accompanying them from the multiplication of plants to marketing, up to the creation of brands, for an enhanced positioning: research and the market go hand in hand to bring benefits to all actors in the supply chain. Think of themes such as the taste of the fruit and its shelf-life: a variety perishable in 24 hours cannot succeed. Our task is to identify only varieties that can have excellent feedback from consumers”.
The work of segmentation has already started for several months with Rossetta®, the company’s premium brand, available from January to June and recognizable with a dedicated and unique packaging for all different producers. Soon we are launching its website rossetta.it, implementing social media campaigns and initiatives of in-store, B2B and B2C marketing. "Rossetta® - claims Nicola Tufaro - stands out for being a very early strawberry with a very high sugar content and a very special aroma".
The project is supported at an operational level by the consulting firm SG Marketing. "The strawberries of the medium-high price range, as Rossetta®, represent about 15% of the market. A share of 55% is developed instead in the mainstream, where there is space for example for the private labels of distribution chains. Here we will position Melissa", remarks Claudio Scalise, managing partner of SG Marketing.
"Until now, the producer who chose a variety of strawberries to cultivate did not have a perfect knowledge of the plant and its yield. This could cause negative feedback from the market - says Tufaro - With the NSG Varietal Club we cover this gap, we orient the choice of varieties providing an important competitive advantage. In addition, we support a cultivation with increasingly ecological methods and intercept, with the right planning, the demand in the specific period in which this is expressed: a real win-win operation. The nursery material will be marketed in Italy exclusively by the company Primi Frutti - continues the co-founder - As for the area of Europe (Spain and Greece) we will work with Spanish nurseries and cooperatives, including Viveros California, Viveros Carbonero and Onubafruit".
The 2021, "year zero" of the Club, is already operational not only with the premium brand Rossetta® but also with all the training, consulting and marketing that is made available to members through a dedicated section of the company website. Nova Siri Genetics is preparing to launch, starting from the next campaign, the project dedicated to Marimbella®, a very promising early strawberry, already cultivated in all Southern Italian regions and in Spain with excellent results
"The particularity of Marimbella® is that it adapts very well to different soils and to different environments, a very difficult characteristic to find in strawberries. It is also very early (available from November to June) and productive - continues Tufaro - I think therefore that its cultivation will have a very important development in the coming years". Among the most interesting novelties of Nsg there is also Gioelita®, which has a very compact plant. The strawberry grower is thus facilitated in harvesting. "We have calculated that it can guarantee a labor saving of 10-15% - he concludes - The fruit of Gioelita® is very consistent and stands out for its very bright red color".
Source: ItaliaFruit
