The tomato sector he moved the situation to the coordinator of the POSEI.

Among other issues, they presented the transportation problem., competition from third countries and increased production costs.

The technical coordinator of the agricultural POSEI in the General Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission, Michele Lemasson, on his recent visit to the Canary Islands, held a meeting with the tomato sector to learn more about its situation.

Lemasson moved, together with the vice-counselor of the Primary Sector of the Government of the Canary Islands, Abel Morales, to the FEDEX facilities at the León y Castillo dock, where she was received by the president of FEDEX, Jose Juan Bonny, President Aceto, Francisco Echandy, the manager of FEDEX, Antonio Herruzo and the president of Coagrisan, Juan José del Pino.

At the meeting, The sector explained to Lemasson the drift that the sector has suffered in the last fifteen years and the causes of this decline. Also, assessed the effect of the Strategic Plan for the Canarian Tomato export sector that the Commission supported in 2008.

At the end of the meeting, The delegation toured the FEDEX facilities, the cold rooms and the operating terminal, where the effort made by Canarian exporters when hiring refrigerated ships and the logistics to put productions in Europe was explained..

From the dock, The delegation moved to La Aldea de San Nicolás along the northern road, checking in situ the difficulties of this route for the transfer of tomatoes from the two companies that grow in this municipality, to the facilities of the Coagrisan agricultural cooperative.

The vice president of Coagrisan, Rogelio Rodriguez, received the group and welcomed them into the packaging warehouse for, later, tour the facilities and learn about the activity, from the reception of the fruit to the loading on the trucks for transport to the dock.

Then, The rector of Coagrisan joined the group accompanied by the mayor of La Aldea, who explained the particular situation of the municipality and its dependence on the cultivation of tomatoes for export, representing a high percentage of the economy of La Aldea.

The visit continued through several greenhouses where the head of the technical team, Marcelo Rodriguez, explained the details of the crop and the actions that have been taken to modernize the facilities and increase crop yields.

Lemasson showed interest in integrated production and asked about the organic or ecological modality, to which Rodríguez explained the singularities of the current model: biological, recirculation, zero residue, that almost make it ecological, except for the use of substrates. However, Rodríguez announced the organic cultivation test that has been carried out this campaign and that has given very good results.

Finally, The delegation moved to the cooperative's R&D&i greenhouse where they were able to learn about the research activity being carried out., in order to implement improvements that result in increased production while guaranteeing sustainability and respect for the environment.

The vice-counselor highlighted that “this visit has been an informative meeting aimed at informing the POSEI coordinator of the problems that our farmers and ranchers are facing., and also the potential and development possibilities of our primary sector, as well as showing you the difficulties derived from the double insularity that affect some Canarian producers.".