BEHR AG has every reason to celebrate at Fruit Logistica in Berlin. The family-owned company is looking back on 130 years of company history in 2025. At the joint stand of the producer organization Mecklenburger Ernte GmbH, guests can look forward not only to insights into the coming season but also to a number of birthday surprises and culinary highlights from Jan Aigner, winner of the first season of the well-known German TV cooking show 'The Taste'.
The roots of BEHR AG lie in the small village of Rosenweide, 25 km south of Hamburg. The main location is still in this area, in Seevetal-Ohlendorf in Lower Saxony. Other locations are in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Hesse, Poland, and the Murcia region of Spain. "Thanks to our own production sites in different regions of Germany and Spain and our close cooperation with the other growers of Mecklenburger Ernte in Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, and North Rhine-Westphalia, we can offer a wide range of products in programme-capable quantities all year round, both conventionally and organically," says Christine Behr, Chief Sales Officer at BEHR AG. "Our range now includes over 60 vegetable crops, from various lettuces to cabbage, root vegetables, tubers, and fruiting vegetables. We offer 20 organic crops."
Left: Behr AG uses the latest cultivation and harvesting technology in its fields.
Right: Rudolf and his daughter Christine are jointly at the helm of the family business.
Growing vegetables on around 4,000 hectares"
Production has always been and remains the heart of our company," says Rudolf Behr, CEO of BEHR AG. "In 1885, our cultivation area was just 1.5 hectares. Today, we grow around 4,000 hectares of field vegetables over the course of a year, including over 600 hectares of vegetables grown according to organic guidelines."
The starting point for the growth of the family business was the introduction of the iceberg lettuce in its current form on the German market. "In the first attempts at growing it, the typical head shape of the iceberg lettuce simply did not develop," recalls Rudolf Behr. "It was only in 1977 when an American variety of the 'Saladin type' was left on a trial field for two weeks longer than planned, although the lettuce should have been mown as yet another failure, that the iceberg lettuce had formed its characteristic head. The first right variety had been found, and above all, the recipe had been understood: The iceberg lettuce simply needs a little more growing time than the then-popular lettuce," says Rudolf Behr. Today, BEHR AG grows around 60 million heads of iceberg lettuce over a year.
Comprehensive services for open-field vegetables
In addition to production and marketing, the BEHR Group also combines growing advice, quality assurance and control, and logistics under one roof. This enables BEHR AG to offer its customers optimum product safety and vegetable quality.
Visit the company at Fruit Logistica: Hall 20, Booth A-50
For more information:
Christine Behr
BEHR AG
Parkstraße 2
21220 Seevetal - Ohlendorf
Phone: +49 (0) 4185 - 79 77 734
Fax: +49 (0) 4185 - 79 77 739
e-mail: info@behr-ag.com
Internet: www.behr-ag.com