Quinoa Quality (QQ) is happy to present the latest newsletter, with information of interest for the quinoa producers in Europe.
The newsletter is sent to all the clients of QQ, in addition to subscribers.
Harvest
We are still in the 2020 growing season, but rapidly approaching harvest of the quinoa. Therefore we will give some general recommendations, which I hope will be useful, to be found in a short video elaborated on the subject. Please use 2 minutes to watch it, and let me know if you have any further questions. You are most welcome to send me pictures from your field in order to define optimal harvest time. Questions, photos and comments are welcome at info@quinoaquality.com.
With the very best regards,
Sven-Erik Jacobsen
Quinoa and corona in Europe
This year quinoa in many sites of Europe looks good. I have been travelling around as much as the covid 19 has allowed me, and seen many nice fields. Also some fields with weed problems. Weeds are always present, and quinoa does not compete well with weeds the first weeks after emergence. It is therefore important that the field is established and prepared in the best way and at the right time.
The corona situation this year has caused many problems, but for us we have been able to overcome most. Our logistical company has been affected with reduced staff, and delayed actions, but there have been relatively few implications for us and for the farmers. However, an indirect effect of the corona has been that some markets have closed or at least reduced their demands, such as restaurants. It has created reduced sale for some of our growers in Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Hopefully this situation will change to the better, as restaurants are now opening again.
Some highlights from Europe:
The Czech Republic is becoming a new quinoa producer
Austria is entering the quinoa market
Switzerland is being established with a new distributor
France is one of the main producers of quinoa in Europe, and are entering into other products such as amaranth, lentil, sesame, teff and chia.
Belgium is testing quinoa cultivars and various agronomic measures
The Netherlands have created a small, local market
Germany has established a solid market with supermarkets
Sweden is building a high value market for Swedish quinoa
Denmark is going more organic, and markets for locally produced, organic quinoa is increasing
Italy is going into pasta
Spain is developing quinoa and amaranth with success
Project study: Weed and diseases in quinoa
QQ is participating in a study on the optimization of weed control and an evaluation of diseases in quinoa, lead by University of Aarhus, Denmark, and with a Danish farmer group also involved. The project is in its first year, but already now we have seen some results.
A clean seed bed is definitely the first prerequisite for a good establishment and a clean field. We will return with more results later.
Next Newsletter
In the next newsletter we will give information about our new, upgraded homepage, and the new services which will be included. Those services include a series of videos for inspiration and for information.
Quinoa Quality full product catalog can be found here: Quinoa seeds.