"In January 2024, there will be 30 hectares of greenhouses up and running, of which 15 are dedicated to winter harvesting with LED lighting and 15 summer hectares planted for subsequent harvesting," says Fri-El Green House CEO Florian Gostner, the company with its production base in Ostellato in the province of Ferrara.
Of the 15 hectares that will be harvested in January, there will be 10 dedicated to the cocktail variety, plus 4 to the Strabena variety and the remainder to the premium vine variety.
Given the strong demand from the Italian market, we have decided to triple the area dedicated to the cultivation of the Strabena," adds Sandra Gostner, marketing manager, "and thanks to the transplanting in January 2024, we will be able to achieve the planned results in March 2024.
Sandra Gostner (photo Pierluigi Benini)
De Ruiter's tomato on the vine has green parts firmly attached to the rachis, which is long and therefore very appealing to end customers.
"Strabena is a premium tomato with an eye-catching strawberry shape, which stands out from all other varieties within the range. It has 20-25-gram berries with a high sugar content of 8 to 9 degrees brix and is characterized by a very distinct flavor in terms of sweetness. It represents a prestigious variety for us, and we are sure that it will bring us great satisfaction, gaining popularity on the Italian market in a short time.
Florian Gostner
The production of Strabena is uninterrupted and is guaranteed all year round in Italy through the main large-scale retail chains, while abroad, it is exported to Germany and Austria.
"We recently started distributing Strabena, and we have received strong positive feedback because this premium tomato is really delicious and very popular," says Davide D'Ignoto, sales manager. "It is very sweet, very fragrant, and has a shape similar to a strawberry, which are all characteristics that attract and win over the consumer.
Archive photo
"We are currently preparing for the transplanting of 15 hectares dedicated to the different varieties of H2orto branded tomatoes (vine, cocktail, miniplum) to guarantee the domestic winter market a production never reached in the past years," explains Gostner, "and in the first half of 2023 we have also increased the packaged product by 40 percent.
"Turnover from 2015 to date has been increasing sharply," concluded the CEO, "and this is due to the continuous growth of the production area and the transition from mass products (classic vine tomatoes) to premium products (premium vine tomatoes, cocktail, and miniplums). After a turnover of 13 million euros reached in 2020, we estimate a value of 30 million euros and a tomato production of 13,000 tons in 2023.
H2orto is a company that has over 500 employees, with an average age of 34, of whom 41% are women.
For more information: 
H2ORTO
Via delle Serre 1
44020 Ostellato (Ferrara) - Italy
Tel.: +39 0533 57411
www.h2orto.it