Bunches
RoseNiagara grapes are themain cultivars
for fresh consumption in Brazil, and they oc-
cupy about 10 thousand hectares. “All Niaga-
ra grapes produced in Brazil are destined for
the domestic market, but in some regions, a
portion of the crop is used for making wine”,
explains Loiva Maria Ribeiro de Mello, socio-
economic researcher at Embrapa Grape and
Wine, in Bento Gonçalves (RS). Most Niaga-
ra vineyards are operated by family farmers,
hired workers or sharecroppers who under-
take the task of taking care of the vineyard,
while the owner provides for the inputs.
The majority of the producers deliver
their crop tomiddlemen (wholesalers), who
transport and sell the grapes to food supply
centers or to big supermarket chains. “The
farmers who are well equipped in terms
of structure, negotiate their grapes direct-
ly with the supply centers or supermarket
chains”, observes Loiva. From the supply
centers, before reaching the final consum-
ers, the fruit go through the retail market,
like specialized shops, fairs, fruit stands, su-
permarkets, corner shops and even hawkers.
The production of other types of grapes
for freshconsumption reached 717,941 tons,
equivalent to 47.88% of the total grape crop
harvested in Brazil in 2015. The biggest con-
centration of the production of rustic grapes,
includingwhite Niagara and rose Niagara, oc-
curs in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, São
Paulo and Santa Catarina. Rio Grande do Sul
produced 876,286 tons of this type of grapes
in 2015. Of this total, 34,867 tons were rose
Niagara and 56,910 tons, white Niagara. The
cultivar is grown in almost all the munici-
palities where grapes are produced in Rio
Grande do Sul, upwards of 100.
ready-to-eat
In Brazil, rose Niagara is the cultivar for
freshgrape consumption, but is also
used for makingwine andderivatives
Sílvio Ávila
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