Spain: Huesca group boost Barbastro pink tomatoes marketing

The Huesca-based group Correas is going to boost the domestic marketing of the pink tomato of Barbastro and give it an international projection. The company is investing one million Euro in the setting up of a 4-hectare greenhouse, although it also has a 15-hectare farm on the road to Burceat, in the Barbastro municipal term. It expects to harvest 600,000 kilos of high quality pink tomatoes, as stressed by the head of the company, Lorenzo Correas, who visited the headquarters of the Association of Gardeners of the Alto Aragón together with his children, who are the directors of the group's companies.

The arrival of the Correas Group to Somontano was considered "a historic milestone" in the development of Barbastro's pink tomato; a registered trademark which in recent years has already become available in the country's main markets and in gourmet stores. Correas also plans to enter the international market, marketing this tomato in the UK.

The setting up of this greenhouse will lead to a 50% increase in the production of Barbastro pink tomatoes; that is, the total volume marketed will reach 2,200,000 kilos next season and will meet all the demand.

The project is expected to last for two months. The goal of Grupo Correas is to plant in April to obtain the first tomatoes in July.

More than 40 people will work in the greenhouse. They will be seasonal jobs, with just some five or six people working there permanently; however, Correas' objective is to continue investing in the farm and build a canning plant in a second stage. Also, as Esteban Andrés said, there are projects for the asparagus of Barbastro and other vegetables which could also be grown and marketed by this company, thus extending the season throughout the year.

Source: heraldo.es