For years Ferme de la Motte have grown popular onions, shallots, echalions and garlic. Towards the end of the nineties some changes in the cultivation became apparent. Father and son Lemaire noticed that a market for durably grown crops was forming. Carefully they started part of the cultivation without fertilizers and weed-killers. Not much later Carrefour, the second largest supermarket chain worldwide, also spoke about organic cultivation. This clearly meant, that they wanted more organic products in their assortment. The two - supermarket and grower - found each other. Carrefour is still the largest client for organic products of Ferme de la Motte.

 

Whilst looking for mildew resistant varieties father and son Lemaire found what they  were looking for. Using the knowledge gathered while doing this, they now want to to make accepted cultivation more and more durable. Firstly from their own conviction and also from a commercial viewpoint: father and son are fully convinced that in the short term demand for durably grown crops will drastically increase.

In order to increase the volume they have been actively looking for varieties during open days, which can thrive with less chemicals. For seed onions they liked the qualities of Yankee and Hylander very much. Both varieties are mildew resistant and can be used both in organic and accepted cultivation. For the first year of planting onions they liked the varieties from the Quality Inside program, which are well suited for durable cultivation.

The change over to organic is not without its problems. It demands a lot of creativity and adaptability. "To specialize in organic is quite a job," Frédéric Lemaire. says. "The first problem is to find land which is suitable for the organic cultivation of our products close to home. Therefore we are actively looking for cooperation with growers from other areas. This takes time."

 

A different demand comes from the market: suppliers require a product of constant quality all year round. "In the cooperation we therefore do not limit ourselves to France. We already have contacts with growers in Argentina and Italy. Especially in spring the cultivation circumstances for some of the varieties are so much better there. In short to change is to seek. That is why we are here. Cultivation is a lot more fun this way, because one is very busy with the cultivation and the future."

Regarding La Ferme de la Motte
La Ferme de la Motte is situated in Talcy, a small town in the Loire-et-Cher region about 150 km south of Paris. The company grows 19,500 tons accepted and 2,000 tons organic, according to the division mentioned hereunder:

Source: Uien Magazine, De Groot & Slot, Holland