The first white asparagus of Loire Valley

The production of early French white asparagus started in Loire Valley. Such early crops enable it to meet the consumers’ demand in France, Europe and Asia.

Although restaurants are closed in many countries, Jacques Guironnet of ASPA2 is reasonably optimistic about this campaign. «Nevertheless, a lot of our customers are ready to buy the product. The demand comes mainly from wholesalers who serve specialty shops.»

Jacques Guironnet said about export to Asia: «Here there are closed restaurants as well, but this does not mean that there is no demand. Our customers in the counties concerned have diversified their sales channels. They have started to serve specialty shops and some of them are selling online as well.»

In terms of quality, the campaign is going well. «We picked the first asparagus on Monday, 18 January. They were of very good caliber and very white, with a little fibre and bitterness. Thanks to our heating system our asparagus keeps its quality stable, which pleases both our customers and the consumers. We hope that the final consumer will buy asparagus, now that people have more time for cooking.»

This year ASPA2 tries to explain to the end consumer why the asparagus came so early. Jacques adds than the production of Aspa2 is ahead of schedule and not out of season. «Sometimes there are unheated asparagus arriving on the market in February.» Aspa2 also plans to be present at the market for Easter holidays.

Aspa2 practices the sustainable agriculture with environmental compliance: use of mechanical weeding, compost from green waste and manure, drip irrigation management with moisture sensors installed in the soil. The underground heating network helps cool the water before it returns to the Loire river and it contributes to protect the environment.

For more information:
Jacques Guironnet

ASPA2
Phone. : +33 (0)2 47 58 95 93
Fax : +33 (0)2 53 68 26 65
info@aspa2.fr  
www.aspa2.fr