Organic leeks from Italy available at German Naturkost Ernst Weber

More than 30 years ago Antonio Bello started growing leeks for the Swiss company Biotta. He had just left Italy to find work like many other South Italians. But when Biotta needed producers in Italy to meet the demand of Swiss consumers for organic winter vegetables, Antonio Bello decided to return to Italy. He returned to his family’s farm and converted it into an organic farm. The farm in Presicce in Apulia in the southeast of Italy became the first organic farm.

Naturkost Ernst Weber has been working with the company Antonio Bello since 1994. And this organic pioneer supplies Naturkost Ernst Weber with fennel, parsley, endives, chard, potatoes and of course leeks, which are now in season. Every leek that arrives in Munich has thirty years of seed production history with him from its region of origin Apulia. After obtaining organic seeds once from Biotta, Antonio Bello devoted himself to the challenging task of producing his own seeds. Therefore the family Bello is dedicated to selecting, from every harvest, the finest plants from their fields and allowing them to blossom so they can collect the seeds. The seeds are dried, stored and sown the next year. This process has been repeated every year. This is why the leeks grown by the Bello family can’t be labelled as one specific variety, as the heirloom seeds aren’t for sale and it isn’t a known hybrid or breed. But with his seed production Antonio Bello has fulfilled his wish to grow a leek, which is perfectly adapted to the conditions in the south of Apulia and copes well with the weather and soil conditions at the farm.

Now the sons of Antonio Bello, Carmelo and Fulvio, continue their fathers work. Farming without producing their own seeds isn’t an option: “If I can’t farm my fields like we have done in the past, then I don’t want it farmed at all,” states Carmelo Bello. However the trend for hybrid varieties, and not only in conventional farming but also in organic farming, is growing. More and more hybrid varieties dominate the market, and seed production by farmers is rare.

Hybrid varieties are in contrast to the pollinated varieties often characterized by strong growth, uniformity and a high resistance to cold weather. But the hybrid varieties only have these successful features in the first generation. The ten largest seed companies together have a share of 75% of the seed market, and the diversity of plant varieties is rapidly decreasing. Even organic farming is focusing more and more on criteria such as high resistance or standardization in terms of size, weight and appearance. But does that really matter?

For Antonio Bello and his sons biodiversity and the survival of old regional varieties are more important than products that comply with the current product standards. 

Naturkost Ernst Weber is an international, medium-sized company with its headquarters in Munich, which has been trading in organic produce since 1990. All products have the EU organic certification and Naturkost Ernst Weber is a certified Fairtrade and Naturland dealer and Demeter trading partners. The company maintains long-term relationships with its suppliers and the products are characterized by a high standard of quality. The customers of Naturkost Ernst Weber are wholesalers, retailers, supermarkets, production and producing companies and many more.

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