Organic grapes from Chile
Despite the closing season organic wholesaler Behncken's Vierländer Gemüsestand GmbH in Hamburg still gets organic table grapes from Chile. Hendrik Wulff of Behncken's Vierländer Gemüsestand reported "We received the first shipment of organic table grapes on Sunday. The season for our organic grapes from Chile is about six weeks long. The first two weeks were supplied by air and the following four weeks they shipped the goods."
Organic quality has its price
The customers of the organic wholesaler are primarily retailers, weekly market sellers, as well as the childcare and school caterers. "The price of our organic table grapes is around 7 Euro per kilo," tells Hendrik Wulff. Conventional table grapes currently cost between 3.27 Euro and 2.36 Euro at the German wholesale markets. Organic quality has its price. The difference lies in cultivation. "Organic farming does not use pesticides," explains Wulff, "These table grapes are organically-grown."
"Low supply is not dramatic"
Possible gaps in supply due to decreased production or transport problems do not worry the organic wholesaler: "Decreased supply sometimes happens during the transition between the producing countries. But that's not really dramatic."
Organic gardening with the seasons
Behncken's Vierländer Gemüsestand always receives the organic grapes on pallets. "In the beginning we order just a few grapes," said Wulff, "We always like to test the quality of the goods. If we are convinced of the quality, then we order more." In addition to the import of organic products Behncken's keeps expanding his organic farm. They grow various organic quality seasonal vegetables, herbs and lettuces on an area of 4 hectares and in 2,000 m² of greenhouses.
Hendrik Wulff
Behncken's Vierländer Gemüsestand GmbH
Süderquerweg 228, 21037 Hamburg
hendrik.wulff@behncken.de
www.behncken.de