If we had to make a balance of the year 2021 and to sum it up in one word, we would say "bittersweet"We did not start the year on the right foot due to the health crisis caused by the COVID-19, which hit our country with its third “wave,” accentuated by family gatherings at Christmas and which did not let up until mid-February.
As far as the agricultural sector is concerned, the first days of the year were not good either, suffering the scourge of the stormy Philomena, with gusts of over 100 km/h in the Canary Islands and up to 80 km/h in coastal areas of the peninsula, where Málaga bore the brunt with severe flooding. Meanwhile, in inland areas of the peninsula and at high altitudes, snowfalls of up to 60 cm occurred, affecting not only agricultural and livestock areas but also infrastructure.
Despite the circumstances, our primary sector once again demonstrated its unity, its strength and its capacity for recovery and, when it seemed that everything was finally on track to face the second half of the year with optimism, historic and unprecedented energy crisis The crisis has once again hit our country from top to bottom, affecting everyone from small consumers to the productive sector. The agricultural and livestock sectors have not only had to deal with high energy costs that continue to rise, but also with discrimination based on consumption time slots, which has made it impossible for many farms to maintain their businesses, condemning them to productive failure.
But it's not just our farmers' energy costs that have increased. As if that weren't enough, shortages and scarcity of raw materials, have affected their price.
This has turned the manufacturing, sale and marketing of agricultural inputs into a scenario of total uncertainty, fear and mistrust, in order to be able to face the next agricultural production campaigns.
At Cultifort we wanted to do our part and show our support for the sector by maintaining the same rates throughout the year and not increasing the price of any of our products.We have managed to overcome a year full of adversities and we have done so thanks to you, our customers and farmers, who have once again demonstrated your commitment. trust in Cultifort's nutritional solutions and our team. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
But in our annual review, we can't just focus on the bad news. We have continued to punctually and monthly prepare our traditional Cultinews, reviewing different crops and key moments of them to be able to make some Recommendations that improve the competitiveness of farms and the quality of crops.
We started 2021 focusing on berry cultivation., specifically strawberries, preparing a publication about How to achieve optimal strawberry ripening?The first strawberries could reach the market by the end of the year, although the sector's productive output peaks from February onwards and continues until June.
The next important event in the agricultural calendar is the flowering of many species of woody crops, so we wanted to address the issue by focusing on the Flowering, pollination and setting processes of fruit species, citrus fruits and other woody crops.
During the final stretch of winter, a visually impressive event takes place, cherry blossom. Cultifort moved to the Jerte Valley to take an interest in the sector's demand and be able to offer solutions as exclusive as FASKOLOR, transferring our knowledge and experience in crop management to distributors and farmers in the area in order to be able to Advance and homogenize ripening, reducing harvest passes y increasing the farmer's profit margin.
Related to Our innovative R&D line “Natural Defensive Biotechnology”, we discuss the importance of Complementary tools for disease prevention in crops and we made specials about it Disease prevention in sweet potatoes and in cauliflower. On the other hand, we reinforce the importance of these Cultinews with a series of Recommendations for spring-summer crops, on the one hand, and autumn-winter, for another.
Like every year, we do not forget a crop that makes us world leaders, the olive grove, and we wanted to review the main aspects of the Pre-flowering treatments, in addition to indicating a series of recommendations on How to get a high-quality early harvest EVOO.
Another of our crops par excellence are citrus fruits., which we could not forget either, remembering how important it is to nutrition during the ripening period. The use FERKOLOR favors the obtaining of Better quality of the fruits, with more sugar, better coloration and greater firmness.
We developed a series of Recommendations on Hemp Cultivation, where we deal, not only agronomic aspects, but also a series of legal doubts and considerations, which could be useful when making the decision to grow Cannabis sativa spp. Sativa.
Not even the summer heat could stop us, thanks to our recommendation about the efficient use of irrigation water already the disclosure that we made about the Importance of Silicon in Agriculture. Our clients managed to prevent and protect their crops from sunstrokes and excessive transpiration, with the consequent water stress that this would have entailed, thanks to the use of CULTISILKBut the summer season not only brought heat, it also brought with it large and good harvests of tomatoes and peppers, especially for those farmers who used FASKOLOR to advance ripening of its fruits.
In addition to all these Cultinews, we have found time to collaborate with magazines such as fh Almería, collaborating in its Agricultural Yearbook and preparing several informative articles throughout the year, including: Prevention of pathogens in tomatoes; Clean and healthy floor disinfection; Spain, leader of Organic Agriculture in Europe y Health and profitability of organic zucchini cultivation.
In our Flamenco skirts category Culticonsejos, we have the Recommendations from a viticulture expert, Tobias Cantó Jover, Agricultural Technical Engineer and Technical Manager of the Santa Magdalena Cooperative of Novelda, who showed us some tools, characteristics and Key points for pruning the vine.
Shortly before the start of the campaign in Almería and with the help of our Partner in the province, Tecniagro Group, we draw a soil disinfection strategy prior to sowing, motivated by the restrictions on the use of chemical disinfectants.
We also rescued some of our Previous Culticonsejos, among them the importance of the Post-harvest fertilization and its key points.
Regarding the Webinars, this year they have been more specific and exclusive, broadcasting only one at a national level, focused on the Nutritional management of flowering and fruit set in citrus fruits, and four at an international level: two dedicated to our Partner in Ecuador, on Managing flowering and fruit set in avocado and about Nutritional alternatives for rose cultivation; another at the request of our Partner in Romania, about Nutritional management of: wheat, barley, corn and sunflower; and the most recent and last, for our Partner in Chile, about FASKOLOR management in cherry and table grape trees.
In 2022, at Cultifort, we are committed to continuing to work and support the sector, offering the best nutritional solutions with the highest quality assurance, and supporting our farmers and customers with what makes us great: our team.
For another year, we will continue working for and supporting quality, competitive, and sustainable agriculture, highlighting our knowledge and technical service.
