Breeding

Strawberry breeding

What would a company be today without good design and edge-cutting innovation?

We, at Geoplant vivai, have already wondered that a few years ago. Back in 1992, the CEO and founder of the company, Mr. Secondo Danesi together with his supportive wife Mrs. Adriana realised that he would need to create his own personal variety of strawberries to be promoted and offered to his clients, from farmers and dealers to salesmen and co-operatives. He would never give up on his idea and that’s when he decided to promote and establish the very first private research center aiming to study genetic improvement of strawberry cropped in Romagna territory: it was just there, in Cesena, where the company New Fruits was born and later, it moved to Ravenna.

The 90s crossed a very important line for the company located in Savarna, Romagna countryside; many cultivars being produced at that time weren’t edge-cutting any longer and their demand was slowly decreasing. The reason behind this is probably due to newly patented varieties that were being introduced in the market but couldn’t be reproduced by Geoplant that was unlicensed at that time. Mr Danesi figured that sooner or later he would have lost many of his clients; to avoid this to happen, he committed himself to give a new life and future to his 10-year-old company, founded in 1982, so that to ensure a workplace to his employees and collaborators who had always believed faithfully in his project.

Thanks to the strawberry breeding licensed by New Fruits, ie. the licensor, our plant nursery has increased and traded market-leading varieties for years. Varieties like Alba, Asia, Roxana e Syria, whose demand remains highly stable in European and Italian markets, and recently born ones like Tea, Olympia e FragolAurea, have swept off the clients feet thanks to their taste, high yield and adaptability. Needless to say, this is a clear proof that shows Mr. Danesi’s willingness and ability to perfectly combine quantity and quality.

Started in 2010, Geoplant’s breeding is a controlled crossing technique that replaces the New Fruits traditional one thanks to the use of breeders instead of bees. In the last few years, this method has given birth to Talia, a late-ripening June-bearing strawberry of excellent quality, and to Auge, an ever­-bearing whose yield is pretty high.

Pear breeding

Started in 2009 our breeding programme on pear trees has developed around well defined ideotypes i.e. fruit with coloured skin (red or pink) on at least 50-60% of their surface area; pear x nashi hybrids, Erwinia-resistant selections.

We have planted an average of 2,500-3,500 seedlings per year; so far, they have produced about 70 selections and these have been taken to the second level selection.