Depending on where it was purchased, the watermelon that yesterday won both the prize for the tastiest and the largest (25.95 kilos) would cost between 22 and 42 euros, sweet money: currently they are priced between 0.8 and 1.6 euros per kilo. Toni Colomar Colomar, Toni Pep March, is the farmer who harvested the almost 26kg fruit from his farm in Sant Carles. It is not the first time that he has won the World Watermelon Championship prize, which yesterday celebrated its 5th year: with this one, this 65 year-old farmer has now won three times, plus the second prize won in 2021 in the sweetest category.
Even Colomar himself, father of the current president of Agroeivissa, Iván Colomar, was surprised by the colossal size of his fruit: “Normally, mine do not exceed 22 kilos,” he said. The 2021 champion watermelon weighed 20 kilos, but it can be seen that this year has been exceptional: of the 11 contestants, only three weighed less than 20 kilos and there were two that came close to Toni Pep March’s cyclopean (23.7 and 24.7 kilos, the latter from Toni Terassa, one of the founders of the cooperative).
Why is it so big? “The secret is to visit the watermelons very often”, said the farmer half jokingly. “And the natural fertilizer, a lot of manure,” he said more seriously. Every year he harvests around 60 tons of watermelons and 50 tons of melons.
“The secret is to visit the watermelons very often,” said the farmer half jokingly. “And the natural fertilizer, lots of manure,” he said more seriously.
It was immediately clear which was the heaviest. It was enough that one of the workers of Agroeivissa took it from the box where it was deposited and, lifting it, exclaimed “phoar!”, as if he were weightlifting. “Water and good weather” are the two conditions that, according to Pep Mayans, manager of the cooperative (who was in charge of cracking the watermelons for the tasting), are necessary for them to reach such volumes. This year’s grapes seem to be the most suitable, according to what was seen yesterday. The winner was grown in March: “Those of that time take about 120 days to ripen. In August those planted in June will be harvested: these need, due to the heat, only 60 days of ripening,” Mayans explained. But with morning and evening watering: “Otherwise, they would not be able to withstand these temperatures. Those will be sweet.
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