It all began at the University of California Riverside where scientists irradiated budwood from Nadorcott mandarins to create a new seedless variety called Tango, which has since taken the U.S. market by storm. Spanish seed company Eurosemillas aims to mimic that success in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South America but has faced legal challenges from France's Nador Cott Protection (NCP). These actions have left growers undeterred however, as demand for plants continues to outstrip supply.

Eurosemillas development director Jose Pellicer thinks it will be very difficult for NCP to prove the Tango is essentially derived from the Nadorcott, claiming the cultivar is very different for both growers and consumers.

"You don't have to cover the trees with nets because it's completely sterile. Meanwhile, with Nadorcott if you don't want to have seeds you need to cover it for two months in spring, and this increases the cost of production by some 30%," Pellicer tells www.freshfruitportal.com.

Eurosemillas development director Jose Pellicer.

"Also, Tango doesn't fill the mandarins in neighboring fields with seeds, because the pollen from Tango is sterile and can't make seeds nearby.

"However, Nadorcott has very aggressive pollen and can fill the neighboring fruit with seeds."

From a consumer perspective, he says the Tango is easy to peel, has good size, flavor and juice, as well as better coloring than the Nadorcott.

"It's also late, growing in the second season for Mandarins from February to April. During that time there are very few varieties and less production."

He highlights that the government's Varietal Conversion Plan for the Spanish citrus sector explicitly excludes Nadorcott for this very reason. As far as legal challenges are concerned, he believes the actions are simply part of a commercial strategy from NCP.

"Legally, Tango continues to be protected all over despite the opposition from Nador Cott. There was a similar case about eight years ago in the Netherlands about cut flowers in which the judge said these kinds of lawsuits can be used by a competitor to delay entry into the market," Pellicer says.

"Even if you lose, you gain a few years while the demand is in place. I think this is exactly the case that is happening here.

"To date they have lost in all their actions of opposition, whether it be through administrative or judicial channels."

However, if the courts deem the variety happens to be essentially derived from Nadorcott, Pellicer says the situation would still be manageable.

"In this case, we'd have to reach an agreement with Nadorcott. It's not that we would lose the rights to Tango – it's a protected variety," he says.

High demand despite AVA-ASAJA opposition

On another front, the Valencian Farmers Association (AVA-ASAJA) has been calling on growers not to plant Tango mandarins, but Pellicer points to the group's vested interests in taking this position.

"AVA-ASAJA was against Nador Cott and against the whole system of club varieties until they made a complaint in Competition Tribunal which they won, where Nador Cott had to pay €5 million (US$5.3 million) for illegal practices in commercialization.

"The solution to the conflict, both for AVA-ASAJA and Nador Cott, was that they reached an agreement whereby AVA became the arm of control for Nador Cott, which has brought them in significant revenues.

"Because of the issue of the crisis, AVA practically stopped having revenue and they were firing people. Through this control system I would estimate they are getting around €1 million (US$1.06 million) in revenue, and they reached a similar agreement with Orri, which is a variety from Israel that is also becoming very famous."

Despite these public calls from a leading industry group, Eurosemillas has had a good take-up from the citrus industry for its field days, where it shows prospective growers the fields and explains the legal and commercial situation in-depth.

"In Tango we have an enormous demand from the growers, so much so that we cannot satisfy it because there aren't enough plants for all the people want," Pellicer says.

"We are making agreements for the coming year as there are no more plants, the nursery doesn’t have more capacity so I’m not sure how much it could be this year – it could be more than 3,500 plants, as well as the rootstocks.

"We did a field day on the farm in Spain, with around 250 people from all the citrus zones of Spain, from north to south."

Production plans

He says the first quota of planting is open in Spain with a total of 1,500 hectares.

"When it's covered, then we'll open another of 500 hectares, and then another 500 hectares more.

"Now there are plantations, demand or agreements in the provinces of Castellon, Valencia, Alicante, Murcia, Almeria, Cordoba, Sevilla, Huelva and I’m not sure but probably Cadiz as well.

"We are just starting. This year there is a little bit of production, as was the case last year. I think next year there will be a certain volume but it's not there yet because we recently started three years ago."

He says this year might yield around one million kilograms (2.2 million pounds), which isn't much compared to volumes of 140,000-150,000 metric tons (MT) for Nadorcotts in Spain.

"Also for varieties like Ortanique or Fortuna they have 100,000MT but now as they have problems and are disappearing. Compared to this, 1,000MT of Tangos isn't anything. It's just the first production.

"It could be a few years before we reach big volumes because the trees start to grow practially in the third year."

He adds that growers who sign up for Tango production will be well-protected with the support of market testing to expose any potential impostors.

"We have developed a scientific project developed in Valencia to obtain the molecular markers that differentiate between Tango and Nadorcott, between Tango and Murcott, and any other variety," he says.

"So with some samples, for example a bud from a tree, you can determine which variety it is. We are already taking samples and are about to do control in destination and origin.

"This determines what level of legality is there; they are not official tests yet, but we have done blind tests and the results are very clear. We've been doing that for a year now, have tried it many times and it’s worked very well; it's very quick and cheap."

International expansion

Eurosemillas and its partner Stargrow are also facing a legal case from NCP and Citrogold in South Africa, where both legal teams have agreed to go to trial which is estimated to be heard this year or in 2016.

Citrogold has advised growers to take a cautious approach to the variety, but Pellicer says the legal system is very similar in South Africa as the country as a signatory to the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).

"In South Africa they are multiplying, being sold in some agreements, and they are being planted. But there are more agreements than real planting," he says.

"There is still no fruit in South Africa yet this year...but we'll do the quota of 1,500 hectares like we have done in Spain.

"We are also working with Uruguay, Peru, Chile, Mexico and have something Colombia. We are looking at possibilities in Brazil, we are working with Italy, Turkey and Egypt but in very limited quantities, and we are working a little bit in China."

He says agreements and plantings have taken place across a range of these countries.

"In Peru there are some hundreds of hectares, in Chile they've planted around 200 hectares and are planting more, and in Uruguay they reached an agreement but the quantities are small, with 30,000 plants and several growers have bought them.

"In Mexico I know there are plantations, in Turkey they are forming agreements with growers and a nursery, and in Egpyt there's a small quantity.

"In China we have a general program for our citrus with many varieties, along with varieties that are not our own."

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