Grower Jan de Winter from the Dutch town of Ridderkerk started the 
cultivation of a patch of lettuce of a new, fusarium resistant variety so he can cultivate throughout the summer without having to steam the soil. “Last week, the demand was quite high due to the warm weather, so I have high expectations for the summer.”
It is the first year the grower is really able to cultivate on a large scale during the summer without the need to steam since fusarium struck in the Netherlands; before that Jan did not steam.
Trials with the new resistant varieties of the Rijk Zwaan breeding company were already conducted last year. Jan knows they have worked hard to get the resistance into the lettuce varieties. However, last year there were not enough seeds to fill up his entire greenhouse, but there are now. “I think it’s a great development because if everything goes well, steaming will soon be redundant, and in the summer, demand is usually high.”
Lettuce continued to go strong
Jan is also happy with how the business went over the past couple of months. He did not have any problems with sales, like, for instance, in terms of delivering to restaurants. “I have considered growing other varieties of lettuce, but never went beyond that. Everything has its pros and cons, but with lettuce every year is good. For the past few months, business still went well because I supply the Jumbo supermarkets through Van Oers United. The advantage of lettuce is that many consumers know just how to use it in their kitchens.”
Barbecuing
He also sees the coming months as being positive for the same reasons. “If the extreme cases stay away and maybe even more people stay at home during the holidays than they normally do, for instance to barbecue, then the sales of lettuce often go well also. However, it is still not an exact science given that, even though this year the spring season was great, this was not the case last year.”
For more information:
Firma J. de Winter
Jan de Winter
slatuinderij@vofdewinter.nl