The reasons for the early start to the season are techniques that are quite common nowadays. This includes, for example, protected cultivation in film tunnels or the technology -used in Germany for about 10 years now- whereby the ground is heated. The beginning of the harvest of German asparagus now usually begins 10 to 14 days earlier than before.
Image: BVEO/Harvesting asparagus
"The cold in November and in February has delivered the desired temperatures to the asparagus. Starting this week, we market German asparagus from heated beds," says Lorenz Boll, Managing Director of producer market Südbaden eG. in Mutterstadt "Our asparagus farms would have preferred a bit more sunshine and temperatures of 13 to 15 degrees -as in the last few days. In the week of Easter, we continue to expect more sunshine with increasing supplies and a good harvest for 2018."
In the West and East, the first German asparagus has been marketed since the end of February. Labinot Elshani, chief representative of Landgard Marketing & Co. KG for fruit & vegetables in Straelen: "At this early season, on offer are still the asparagus from heated tunnels. In the Rhineland, we expect the first product from the heated cultivation in week 12, so that we will have small quantities from the region ready in the Easter week. Due to the late frost period, the first asparagus from unheated multiple tunnels will likely be available at the beginning of week 14, a little later than in previous years. Since the asparagus plants have benefited from the cold spike associated with the frost phase, we expect higher yields, with good qualities this year. These positive prospects also apply to green asparagus, although the start of that harvest will also be somewhat delayed."
"The Easter bunny of the north will hide many Easter eggs at Easter 2018 but - with the exception of a few heated fields - most likely they will not find any asparagus," says Carola Ernicke, managing director of the Asparagus & Berry Fruit Company, in Kloster Lehnin. "Considerable quantities of asparagus are expected in the north only after Easter. Depending on the weather of the coming three weeks, this will be the case from week 14 or only in week 15/16. But the quality, in all likelihood, will be good."
A "pointed" moderate forecast for Germany
Germany is a nation of asparagus lovers; the consumption of asparagus in Germany has been rising steadily for years. Every German consumed more than 1 kg of asparagus last year - preferably white asparagus (0.92kg). On average, a household spent € 6.70 per kilo. In 2010, 89,800 tonnes of asparagus were harvested in Germany, but in 2016 it was just over 120,000 tonnes and in 2017 it was a great 131,000 tonnes - the largest asparagus harvest ever recorded in Germany.
By the way, Lower Saxony is the leader in asparagus cultivation. From there comes nearly 30,000 tons of this produce. Followed by Brandenburg and Bavaria, each with approximately 22,000 tons and North Rhine-Westphalia with approximately 20,000 tons.
High on the wish list: asparagus from the region
German "top connoisseurs" love their asparagus regionally and seasonally. For this reason, more than 23,000 hectares are home to 84% of the asparagus purchased in Germany. Only just under 25,000 of the consumed 160,000 tons of asparagus come from abroad. And asparagus also play a big role in outdoor cultivation. Of the approximately 129,000 ha of outdoor vegetables, approximately 18% can be attributed to these noble white vegetables.
(Source: Statistisches Bundesamt/AMI analysis based on the GfK-Haushaltspanels)
Source: www.deutsches-obst-und-gemuese.de
Source: www.deutsches-obst-und-gemuese.de