The new carrot season was officially opened on 5 July at the isi Ismaninger Feldgemüse farm near Munich. Despite some superfluous rainfall, the harvest and marketing of the field vegetables got off to a particularly good start this year, says owner Peter Soller. In contrast to last year, this year's regional field vegetables have been produced in abundance, which is why he predicts that little raw produce will need to be bought in.
In addition to carrots, the primary item in terms of volume, the company also markets onions, white and red cabbage and celery from regional contract farms. The raw produce is mainly processed for wholesalers and the catering trade, for example in peeled form. "We're mainly supply cutting companies that process the vegetables further or catering suppliers that distribute the vegetables in the regional catering and hotel industry," says Soller, whose catchment area includes not only Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, but also Austria.
Peter Soller has been at the helm of isi Ismaninger Feldgemüse since 2001.
Good start to the carrot season
The first Bavarian carrots of the season were harvested on 3 July. "We mainly had thick carrots in the first phase of the season, which was particularly positive. This is because the small carrots are primarily needed for soup vegetables, which are less in demand in summer. In addition, at the beginning of the season, there were few thick carrots from the Palatinate, and the same was true for Italy. This means that if we hadn't had our own produce in July, we wouldn't have been able to meet demand at all. In this respect, it was no problem at all to market our yields accordingly," summarises Soller.
While the wet weather had a negative impact on yields in many growing regions, this was not the case on the Bavarian farm. Soller: "We only had a little water in two fields, but that was gone relatively quickly. At the end of May, the groundwater level was 70-80 cm above average, but this did not lead to any significant losses."
This year, the company hosted the official opening of the carrot season on 5 July.
Pleasing supply and marketing situation
Marketing has also got off to a good start so far, the greengrocer continues. "We started on the open market with prices per kilo of around €0.90 for thick carrots in sacks. From mid-July, the price level then gradually fell to around €0.60/kg," explains Soller, referring to the favourable supply situation for many products. "There is now a full supply of carrots. For celeriac, there is only a minimal supply gap of two weeks between the old and new harvest, which we are bridging with goods bought in from Holland. The same applies to white and red cabbage, where we have helped ourselves to supplies from Holland and Dithmarschen. As far as onions are concerned, we expect to be able to process our own, newly harvested produce in grades 70+ from week 33/34. In this respect, we will probably not have to buy much of anything this year."
Demand for processed vegetables has been pleasing so far. "Sales were very high in July, similar to last year. August is traditionally a little quieter due to the holidays, especially in the canteen and communal catering sector. We also benefit from the many summer events in the Munich area. There have now been several concerts by Adele and Coldplay, which in turn has a positive impact on demand in the catering and hotel industry. In this respect, the drop in purchasing power has not yet had a major impact on our sector," concludes Soller.
Images: isi Ismaninger Feldgemüse GmbH
For more information:
Peter Soller
isi Ismaninger Feldgemüse GmbH
Mayerbacherstr. 50
85737 Ismaning
Tel.: +49 (0) 89 1430431-0
Email: [email protected]
www.isi-gemuese.de