In Switzerland, the domestic asparagus season is starting early this year. For two weeks already, harvest workers have been harvesting white asparagus on the heated fields in Diepoldsau (Canton St. Gallen), as plant manager Fabian Kummer told news agency Keystone-SDA on Wednesday. Because of the corona crisis, spacing and hygiene rules also apply to the asparagus fields.
"Thanks to waste heat recovery, we can harvest the Schmitter asparagus three to four weeks earlier", the farm writes on its homepage. However, only a quarter of the fields are currently being worked. On the remaining fields without heating, harvesting will begin in about two weeks, as Kummer explains.
Great demand in direct marketing
A special challenge this season is the distribution: Normally, the Rheintaler company delivers about 70 percent of its asparagus to the catering trade. Because this sales channel is now missing, Migros has become an important customer. Schmitterhof also supplies asparagus to farm shops in the region, where demand is high at this time. According to Fabian Kummer, the company's own sales shop on a field in Diepoldsau is also doing very well. "We're selling twice as much as usual."
For more information:
Schmitterhof
Fabian Kummer
Alpstrasse 50
9444 Diepoldsau
T +41 71 733 11 55
F +41 86 079 401 72 13
fabian@schmitterhof.ch
www.schmitterhof.ch