Ofra

Ofra was bred at the Volcani Center, the Agricultural Research Organization at Bet Dagan in Israel, from a cross of ‘Parker’ with the selection ‘111’. It was selected for one property above all: flowering several months earlier than most known varieties.

It is described as infra short-day, a category worth understanding. Infra short-day types initiate flower buds in response to relatively long light regimes — still within short-day conditions — and are relatively insensitive to night temperature. That insensitivity is what frees them from waiting on the weather.

In practice it can be planted in September and fruit from November right through to summer, beginning about two months ahead of conventional short-day cultivars. In Israel it is grown under polyethylene tunnels, and early-yielding varieties like it have taken an increasing share of the area there.

Ofra is named among varieties reported for India. Its relevance here is the shoulder of the season: fruit reaching the market before the belt has any is worth multiples of the January price, and that gap is the most reliable money in the crop.

Take the Israeli production context seriously though. It is grown there under tunnels, and an early crop in the open at the tail of a Deccan monsoon is a different proposition. If you are testing it, test it protected.