How the ToBRFV varieties changed the tomato market in Spain

Added on 24 July 2024

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How the ToBRFV varieties changed the tomato market in Spain

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ToBRFV, Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus, is a constant threat to growers worldwide as it significantly reduces yields, affects the quality of the fruit, and systematically infects other plants. It is a very transmittable virus that can infect through soil, tools, water, and people’s contact. Hazera has been tackling this threat with its ToBRFV IR varieties- the optimal balance between protection and performance– which provide growers with an effective tool to face the highly infectious virus.

Alfredo Mesa, Product Manager for tomatoes tells us how the ToBRFV varieties changed the tomato market in Spain.

Can you give an overview of the market before the presence of the ToBRFV resistant varieties?

″Not all the markets have reacted the same way to the virus. In the first markets with virus-infected tomato crops, growers needed to adapt to the situation without resistant varieties. From doing one long cycle per year, they moved to two cycles. Others were searching for varieties with field tolerance. Growers realized that they needed resistant varieties as their ″tolerant″ varieties were not strong enough anymore due to the increased level of infection, so the seed companies started to release resistant varieties. These markets needed to be open to change their traditional varieties to new resistant ones because the growers were not willing to try anything without the resistance.″