Eurosemillas unveils LUNA ucr avocado 

At the end of June, Eurosemillas presented the new variety of avocado launched by the international Green Motion Avocados platform. The new variety, called BL516, type B flower, is patented under the trade name LUNA ucrTM. The presentation took place in front of over a hundred leading Californian avocado producers at the University of California Riverside (UCR) agricultural extension facilities. Contrary to what happens with other green-skinned pollinating varieties (Bacon, Zutano, Ettinger, etc.), LUNA ucr gives Hass-type fruits, so its avocados can be marketed at an identical or very similar price. This variety grows on slender trees and so takes up less space, thus allowing for manageable and intensive plantations. In addition, in spring, it releases much more pollen than the other type B varieties and as its flowering coincides with that of Hass for up to six weeks. It achieves better setting, boosting plantation productivity and thus multiplying the producer’s profit margins. LUNA ucr is the first variety launched by the Green Motion Avocados platform, but in the coming years a whole new generation of avocados are expected to emerge that will make this product more profitable and sustainable.