Marketing of domestic organic apples is now in the second part of the season. In terms of volume, the current season is roughly similar to the 2018-2019 campaign. "The storages are still full and this means our customers will be able to do without supplementary imports. From today's perspective, there will be a seamless transition into the new harvest from week 33-34 onwards," predicts Hinrich Quast, sales manager at Bio-Obst Augustin Ltd & Co., based in Jork.
In terms of marketing, the trading company looks back on an interesting, Corona-dominated year. "During the first lockdown, the market saw an enormous increase in demand due to the hoarding. This then normalized in the following months, after which the autumn marketing was rather hesitant," says Quast. Currently, he is observing satisfactory demand with a fairly abundant supply situation.
"We had a relatively large Elstar crop," Quast continues. "The Boskoop yield, on the other hand, was very weak, and we were only able to harvest half of the previous year's quantity. The remaining varieties are about at normal levels. We are now seeing pleasing increases in the Topaz and Santana varieties because a lot was planted a few years ago. These plants are now offering full yields more and more."
The Bio-Augustin team with Hinrich Quast (left). In the course of the generational change a few years ago, the company fundamentally redesigned its market presence.
Continuous development of the variety portfolio
Since last year, the variety program of Bio-Augustin has included two innovative new registrations, namely the Dutch Freya and German Greta. "The latter variety is an extremely scab-resistant cross between Topaz and Dalinbel, which is ready for picking in October. Last year, it completely sold out within four weeks; next season we hope to offer it a little longer."
Furthermore, the Natyra and Wellant varieties are enjoying increasing demand in the market. Quast: ""The Natyra and Wellant varieties offer fruit growers some challenges in cultivation. It is difficult to produce enough table fruit. We offer these varieties as premium varieties because they stand out from the standard range in terms of taste."
Focus on regenerative agriculture
Augustin has been marketing organic fruit since 1990, offering Demeter quality exclusively since 2001. "We are now trying to go one step further and have been focusing increasingly on regenerative agriculture for several years. This decision was not made for the sake of marketing, but it was an express wish of the fruit growers in our producer group. In addition, we want to continuously develop beyond the specifications of the growing associations in order to enable fruit growing in the long term that leads to real plant and soil health."
For Bio-Obst Augustin, the regenerative agriculture approach, which consistently includes soil life in all decisions, is paramount. "Here, we learn to understand the plants and the soil as a coherent organism, which must be kept healthy, providing healthy products. Our goal is to also communicate this sustainable farming concept to the outside world, thus increasing demand for these products accordingly," Quast concludes.
For more information:
Bio-Obst Augustin GmbH & Co. KG
Hinrich Quast
Klein Hove 21
21635 Jork
T +49 (0) 4162-9 00 18-0
hq@bioaugustin.de
www.bioaugustin.de