COMPANY

Her name is María Rufete Cruz but her peers know her as Marlen, a nod to her birthplace. This is how everybody knows her at GAMBÍN, although it would be more accurate to say the opposite: it is she who knows each and every person who is or has been part of the company. Thirty years after she joined the staff –with a 1995-2001 maternity leave-, there is no corner of our Cox facilities that keeps secrets for her.

Hers is a story of personal and professional growth within the company, a story of personal enrichment reflected on anyone that has had the pleasure of working with her. “I started working at GAMBÍN when I was 17 years old and my task was to clean and pack. Until one day I got offered a job in what back then was the sales department.

The quality of GAMBÍN citrus is not by chance. Behind each colour, scent and taste of our unique oranges and lemons, there is our defining care for detail, processes, and people. The care that sets us apart and makes us who we are is also present in our farms. They are the result of their privileged location, combined with our expertise, which blends ancestral procedures with the most cutting-edge industrial techniques.

Among them, one can find Lo Belmonte II. Located between Cox and Orihuela, this is a 10 hectares plantation with a total of 5.450 trees.

Lo Belmonte II sits on a silty-loam textured soil, made up of 42% sand, 52% silt and 6% clay, combined with low organic matter content, below 2%.

In a sector such as agri-food, in which the cycle from production to marketing is long, financing is a fundamental tool to successfully complete the process. 

Generally, financial institutions offer companies a financing period maximum up to 90 to 120 days.

But what happens to companies who grow a product for 9 months, collect it, pack it, market it, and finally turn it into money again only when in receipt of payment from their customers?

In January we start a new year and at GAMBÍN we do so with the strength and enthusiasm that always characterize us. The calendar gives us 365 blank sheets that we are willing to fill with commitment, teamwork, attention to detail and the best product and attention to our customers.

But in addition, 2020 presents us with a series of milestones and challenges we have set out to meet, as it seems fit for a local company with a wide international disposition. We wish to contribute to improve the citrus business and our society in general, and therefore we have started to take the appropriate steps. Some of these steps are already in our strategic plan and we will address them with determination during the following months.

This is the story of a boy who grew up in the cold climate of Barlad, a city located in the eastern corner of Romania, a few kilometres from the border with Moldova and Ukraine, in the immediate vicinity of the Black Sea. One day, during a school visit to the local Botanic Garden, he fell in love with a tree. The beauty of the tree captivated him and its perfume haunted him, as did its round and remarkable fruits. He was already ten years of age when he experienced for the first time the sight of an orange tree, something exotic in the area. At that time, nobody knew he would end up dedicating his life to understanding the functioning of citrus fruits. He would make the best out of it and enable thousands of people to reach happiness by offering them the best possible flavour, colour and perfume of easy-peelers, oranges and lemons.

GAMBÍN is assuming an important renewal of its farming grounds as it is planting 10,000 new lemon trees. A commitment to maintain the highest quality and production level of our crops, while enhancing resources and sustainability.

During 2019 and 2020, we will continue to bet on the regeneration of lemon plantations of Fino and Verna variety inserted on Macrophylla feet.

But how do you insert to obtain high quality citrus fruits?

“Inserting” is a cultivation technique based on the vegetable union of two plants: pattern and variety. With the insertion it is possible to maintain the characteristics of the desired variety with the possibility of choosing a pattern with a root system according to the soil conditions of the area.