Planasa is launching a new research and development center in Jacona (Michoacán, Mexico) with the aim of obtaining new berry varieties for farmers in Latin America and the US. This new center will have a staff of 80 highly qualified employees and it's the company's fourth center worldwide, after the ones it has located in Spain (Huelva), France (Aquitaine), and the US (California). It will be the company's second-biggest center by area and activity.
This new facility is dedicated mainly to strawberry and blackberry plant breeding programs and to the development and research of strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, and raspberry. It has a total of 17 hectares and a laboratory designed specifically to guarantee the quality and healthiness of the plant material that is supplied to producers, who will be in charge of its subsequent cultivation, thus supporting the production of nursery plants that Planasa develops in Mexico as part of its research work, which allows it to produce more than 130 million berry plants a year in the country.
Goals
The main objectives of this new R&D center are to increase the ability to obtain new strawberry and blackberry varieties, verify their potential and adaptation to the market and to Mexico's climate and environmental conditions, and find the optimal management to give technical support to farmers so they can obtain better yields from their crops.
Specifically, the center will carry out tests on strawberries focused on drought conditions, salinity, and rusticity (air and soil fungi). In blackberry, the objective is developing thornless selections that have a linear production and fruit quality (without reversion and sweeter flavor). In blueberries, the company aims to know how the six varieties that they currently have in their commercial portfolio adapt to the region and what's the best management for them, with a special focus on three varieties: Blue Madeira, Blue Maldiva, and Blue Manila. And finally, in raspberry, the center will carry out development tests with several advanced selections from the center of Spain.
Employment generation and local development
The opening of this new center in Jacona gives continuity to the investments that Planasa has made to date in Mexico, with three plant production nurseries in Dolores Hidalgo (Guanajuato) and a micropropagation laboratory. With this technological investment, the company will contribute to the economic and social development of the region of Michoacan, generating more than 80 direct jobs.
Michael BrinkmannI.
For more information:
Planasa
https://planasa.com