Italy occupies the first place in Europe as regards the value of vegetables produced at 19.3%, followed by Spain (18%), Germany (10%), France (9.2%) and the Netherlands (7.7%). But this doesn't mean it can relax, as innovative products are needed that can grasp the attention of consumers.
This is what was reported by expert Luciano Trentini during the convention organised by Lamboseeds on "Benefici sulla salute dal consumo di ortaggi di qualità " (Benefits of eating high-quality vegetables).
On the same day, Lorenzini Naturamica presented its Tris Benessere packaging: three types of tomatoes with different colours and characteristics.
Luciano Trentini
"The latest data reports 125 million tons of fresh produce cultivated in Europe on 5.5 million hectares. The value is €52 billion, 12.4% of the total agricultural gross saleable production."
Italy is the leading peach and tomato producer, occupying the second place for apples and courgettes and the third for cherries. Spain is the leader when it comes to fruit value at 26.9%, while Italy is behind at 19.9%.
"Sicily is the leading producer of table tomatoes with 8100 hectares of open fields and 3092 hectares of greenhouses. In total, there are almost 18 thousand hectares of open fields dedicated to table tomatoes in Italy and 7000 of greenhouses."
Peppers are also gaining popularity. They are grown on 8342 hectares of open fields and 2029 of greenhouses. Puglia is the leading producers when it comes to open fields, while Sicily is the leading greenhouse producer.