The annual cabbage cutting on 17 September marked the official start of the new harvest in the cabbage stronghold of Dithmarschen. Due to the wet conditions, the total yield this year will be around 10-15 per cent below average, estimates Matthias Bartels, Managing Director of the local FreshField Handelsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG, and points to the farmers' reluctance to sell. "80 to 90 per cent of the stocks are still out in the field. This means that storage is getting off to a bumpy start this year."
Outdoor vegetables have suffered greatly this year, which has had an impact on the size of the cabbages, among other things, continues Bartels. "The cabbage is too small overall, which is particularly unfortunate for the industry. However, with prices per kilo of around €0.30-0.40 for white cabbage and €0.35-0.45 for red cabbage, good prices are being realised on the fresh market. We are also already receiving the first enquiries from Eastern Europe, which is relatively early. So in terms of marketing, we can't complain at all."
Matthias Bartels at this year's Fruit Logistica.
Celeriac for late marketing
The Dithmarsch-based company FreshField mainly specialises in the cultivation and marketing of potatoes, carrots, white cabbage and red cabbage. New to the portfolio this year is celeriac. "We expect to start harvesting at the end of October, so I can't say too much about yields and quality yet. We had to plant the celeriac in wet conditions, after which it was relatively hot in the summer. However, September has repaired a lot, which incidentally affects all outdoor crops," emphasises Bartels.
The celeriac will initially be grown on 15 hectares, adds the vegetable merchant. "At the request of our food retail customers, we are deliberately focussing on the second half of the season, and we are only starting when the field crops have more or less been cleared. This means that we're still taking the Christmas business with us, after which we will probably continue to market celeriac into March."
Mechanisation of the cabbage harvest
Dithmarschen is considered Europe's largest closed cultivation area for headed cabbage. It is grown here every year on almost 3,200 hectares of land, mainly white cabbage, but also red and savoy. According to statistics, around 90 million heads of cabbage are harvested every year. Although the total area has remained almost the same in recent years, the number of producers is on a downward trend, which is partly due to the lack of personnel in labour-intensive cabbage cultivation, says Bartels. "A few years ago, we carried out trials with a self-driving harvesting robot and stored the mechanically harvested produce accordingly. If you only produce goods for the industry, this may well work, but it is much more complicated for the fresh market."
Photo credit: FreshField Handelsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG
For more information:
Matthias Bartels
FreshField Handelsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG
An der B5 No. 22
25709 Helse / Dithmarschen
Tel : 0049 - 4851 - 956 965 0
Fax: 0049 - 4851 - 956 965 2
Cell: 0049 - 171 - 69 20 882
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.freshfield.sh