Acquaviva delle Fonti red onions, with their sweet taste, rich content of
flavonoids and vitamins B and C and bulbs of up to 1.2 kilograms, are gaining increasing popularity. The new season, which started a few days ago, seems promising, both in terms of volumes and sales. We spoke with Giammarco Lionetti (pictured) of Agriconetto, an Italian company with more than 10 hectares of cultivated land.
"We were able to start about 10 days earlier than last year. This past weekend we started harvesting the first volumes. The orders are steadily increasing and this year there is also renewed interest from the Scandinavian countries, especially from Finland and Sweden. For the supply to the supermarket chains, it is still a little too early, but the sales to the wholesale markets of Milan, Fondi, Verona and Bologna, among others, have already started. The prices seem satisfactory. The traders have accepted a 20% increase, given the higher production costs."
"The onions harvested so far have an average weight of about 400-450 g, with a maximum weight of 900 g. Frequent irrigation cycles during the growing and ripening stages have allowed us to avoid what happened last year, when the size was reduced by almost 50% due to the prolonged drought."
"At the moment, there are some delays with the orders due to the high demand and lack of workers. We can harvest about 9-10 tons of onions per day, but we are still looking for additional personnel to clean, sort and pack the onions. Fortunately, the product is not immediately perishable. As a 2022 novelty, we are launching a 10kg (60x40cm) box for onions larger than 500g."
For more information:
Agriconetto Srl
Sede operativa - Sp 127 km1
70021 Acquaviva delle Fonti (BA)
+39 389 8286512
+39 333 6100998
agriconetto@gmail.com
agriconettosrl.com