It has been an exceptional week in Murcia, where more than 180 licensed producers from all over the world gathered at the Global Summit 2023. We were honoured to host this landmark event for the table grape industry.

Global Summit 2023

For three unforgettable days, we embarked on a journey of discovery and collaboration. From commercial field visits to test block tours at the SNFL Innovation Centre, our licensees had the unique opportunity to experience the latest innovations first-hand. Our half-day conference programme shed light on the opportunities and challenges the table grape industry is facing. Our Grape Genesis grape breeding programme has brought more than 300,000 hybrids to life since its launch in 2015. The focus, shared by our newly appointed Chief Innovation Officer, Josep Estiarte, lies in developing varieties that appeal to consumers, with high disease resistance, innovative flavour profiles and elevated antioxidant levels.

On August 23rd and 24th, we had the privilege of participating in the 1st International Table Grape Congress in Ica, Peru. Our esteemed Chief Innovation Officer at BLOOM FRESH, Josep Estiarte, delivered an enlightening presentation on “New Table Grape Varieties Catering to Both Consumers and Growers.”

During his presentation, Josep had the opportunity to introduce BLOOM, where he shared our vision, mission, information about our innovation centers, and details about our trial blocks. The conversation also delved into the future of grape cultivation, highlighting our innovative approaches and the impactful work we’ve undertaken, including activities such as the Ivory activation in China.

Our dynamic team in Peru actively engaged with fellow participants, sharing valuable insights and fostering connections with industry pioneers. We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to be a part of such a transformative experience!

Our first Raisin Open Day in the USA took place from July 28^th to 30^th of 2023, in California, USA. This significant event brought together more than 30 producers, offering a fantastic opportunity to connect, share valuable insights, and showcase our innovative approach to raisin production.

During the event, attendees had the opportunity to exchange technical and commercial knowledge with our expert teams. They also had the chance to learn about the innovations and new varieties that we are developing for this sector. We are thrilled with the positive feedback and the potential that producers expressed regarding our different varieties and the remarkable efforts we have invested.

We extend our gratitude to the entire USA team whose dedication made this unprecedented event possible, as well as to the producers who joined us. Your hard work and commitment truly made a significant difference!

Our team conducted technical sessions during the SNFL Open Week, which took place from February 5th to 9th, 2023, at our state-of-the-art SNFL office in Mexico.

Growers had the opportunity to benefit from technical advice provided by our experts and were also able to explore our test block, gaining firsthand insight into the development of SNFL varieties. The experience continued with a delightful tasting session that showcased our signature varieties including Navsel 4 and Navsel 20, along with an exclusive sneak peek of our upcoming releases. The performance of these varieties left everyone excited!

Thanks to our local team and partners to make this event possible. These Open Days are all about collaboration and innovation as we showcase the work we’re doing in Mexico.

The BASF Congress in Peru took place on April 21th, 2023 on Ica, Perú. This event recognizes the value of grape production in the Peruvian agricultural industry and allows for different perspectives to be shared.

This year our own technologists, Fabio DaSilva (North Region) and Osvaldo Ormazabal (South Region), took the stage as speakers. Our SNFL Peru technical team was pleased to contribute to this international table grape congress by showcasing our most planted varieties in Peru, including Allison, Ivory, Timco, and Melody. We highlighted the most relevant technical points for establishing these varieties in new projects. We are happy with the great reception from the audience. The roundtable discussion provided an excellent opportunity to exchange experiences and management techniques, consolidate improvements, and achieve the best results with our varieties while engaging with professionals from around the world.

Macfrut Italy took place from May 3rd to 5^th, 2023 at Rimini Fiera in Italy. The event brought together key players of the international horticultural and fruit sector, making it an important event for professionals in the industry in Italy and worldwide.

This year our Senior Technologist for Italy, Annamaria Fanelli, had the privilege of being a keynote speaker in a conversation moderated by Riccardo Velasco, Director of CREA – Ricerca. Annamaria shared insights about SNFL varieties, such as Allison, Timpson, Timco, and Ivory, discussing their technical characteristics and highlighting their evolution in the Italian market. The topics also included the future of innovation with our program Grape Genesis, where our team of scientists and agronomists are working to improve disease tolerance and resistance, to increase antioxidants in grapes, and to innovate with new and exciting flavors for consumers.

The Global Grape Congress was live on March 28th from Melbourne and London. The event brings together key players in the fresh table grape category to connect and share in-depth experience and expertise, while explore new ideas across the industry.

This year, Rachael McClintock, SNFL General Manager in Australia, had an exciting discussion with Wipavee Watcharakorn, CEO at Vachamon, about the table grape market in South-East Asia. The discussion was conducted by Liam O´Callagham of Fruitnet Asia and the topics included an overview of the main Asian markets, changes in consumer preferences, and emerging trends and opportunities for Australia.

Beyond the increasing popularity of Shine Muscat, there is a place for new seedless and sweet flavour varieties that meet with consumers expectations. “The quality coming out of Australia has certainly improved. Consumers are looking for flavour, crunch and green stem. The rising varieties going to Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, or Philippines are Ivory^TM, Great Green^TM, Melody^TM, and Allison^TM. And SNFL Group have also some very exciting stuff coming in the pipeline” has shared Rachael.

Watch the video with the full replay and learn more insights about this dynamic market!

Our team held 9 technical sessions with +50 local licensed producers and exporters, during SNFL Open Week from February 17th to 24th, 2023, in Paine, Chile, to present the varieties from our test block, and share our agronomic recommendations, for fruitful conversations with the participants.

We share our summary video to remember the good times we had with you, our licensees, sublicensees and local partners.

As the table grape industry is growing in India, SNFL team is supporting local growers. On February 21st, 2023, we had an incredible Open Day in Nashik, India, with +20 local licensees.

Growers were able to enjoy technical advice from our experts: Polibio Moreno, Technical Manager and Akash Patil, Customer Relations Manager in India. Our partners could discover SNFL seedless varieties and found how to deliver great quality and performance in the fields of Sahyadri Farms.  Josep Estiarte, SNFL Group Managing Director, also shared the potential business of our varieties in both foreign and Indian market.

Our licensed growers could discover and taste SNFL varieties such as Allison^TM, Timco^TM, Melody^TM, Timpson^TM and Ivory^TM. All of them were excited with the performance of the varieties!

Thanks to our local team and partners in India to make this event possible. We are leading grape innovation to transform, together, grape cultivation in India, for a healthier future.

SNFL Group and Syngenta Group China have entered a strategic alliance to continue to grow their businesses in China.

At the beginning of February, SNFL Group and Syngenta Group closed an agreement to start varietal development in China. Syngenta is going to develop a test block with some of SNFL’s most important varieties through its Modern Agriculture Platform (MAP) and local farmers’ network. SNFL will provide the plant material and support Syngenta growers from an agronomic and technical point of view to guarantee the best quality of their crops. The first licensed table grape varieties will be planted in Si Chuan and Shan Xi, where climate conditions and soil are optimal for the development and evaluation of its grape varieties.

Josep Estiarte, SNFL’s general manager, commented: “China is a key market to expand our activities in the future (…), we do believe that partnering with Syngenta and their MAP network for sustainable local production will help to provide a 52-week supply of our varieties in China and will raise awareness through the demanding Chinese consumers.”

A key part of this initiative is MAP beSide, a programme that helps farmers grow very high quality, traceable crops in a climate-smart way.