Naturkost Kontor Bremen has been supplying Bremen and the surrounding area with 100% organic food for 30 years. Marc Wehrle from Naturkost Kontor talked to FreshPlaza about stone fruits, (sweet) potatoes, and the opportunities and challenges facing Bremen's organic producers.
"Within the gastronomy sector, high-quality organic products have not yet really arrived. We didn't get any inquiries from this sector for a long time, but it is slowly something coming back," Wehrle says. "Our core business is in the natural food trade with its retailers, market stalls and farm stores, but processors as well."
Regional stone fruits and early potatoes
"The season of apricots,
nectarines and peaches is just getting started. For apricots, we are now at a volume of just under 700kg. We are a rather small wholesaler and we make sure to buy regionally as much as possible."
As in many other businesses, Naturkost Kontor has had to change its work processes due to the adversity of the past weeks and months, "On the whole, we haven't had any major logistical problems. Of course, the daily deliveries by forwarding companies were somewhat different. Some of the delivery companies were not allowed to enter our warehouse, which meant that our warehouse staff had to transport the goods in themselves. Of course, we also implement strict hygiene measures."
Regional challenges due to weather
"In any case, 
the weather fluctuations were also evident at our facility in the fact that the start of many crops was delayed by several weeks." This refers, for example, to the start of the strawberry crop, which was delayed by several weeks due to frost damage. "The cold noticeably pushed some things back and presented growers in our region with many challenges."
"We also had a mask requirement and no walk-in customers at our facility for a long time. We mainly pre-packed the produce. Customers could then pick them out at our store. Customers now have direct access again, but only if hygiene measures are observed," Wehrle clarifies.
Large demand for organic products and reusable packaging
Kontor tries to be sustainable not only in regard to its food products, but regarding its packaging as well. Wehrle says, "We try to use reusable packaging as much as possible. The two dominant packages are, after all, from Ifco and Eps. From the regional producers and the southern German producers, almost everything is delivered in Ifco boxes. What produce we import comes in EPS crates if at all possible."
Two tons
of early potatoes and northern German sweet potatoes
"We are expecting about two tons of early potatoes for this week, which includes Annabelle, Linda and Leyla varieties," Wehrle tells us. But Naturkost Kontor is also active in the distribution of sweet potatoes: "We trade in sweet potatoes all year round. Most recently, we had goods from Israel and now from Italy. Soon the season will also start here in northern Germany. However, the price structure between the imported goods and the regional goods is still so far apart that it is unfortunately not yet possible to switch completely to the regional goods because there are also insufficient quantities available. The production and operating costs are also significantly higher in this country. However, we would be very pleased to be able to inspire even more customers to buy regional produce."
Changes in cultivation due to climate change
According to Wehrle, the consequences of climate change can also be seen in local cultivation: "You notice that some things have changed when you look at the cultivation of crops such as kiwi fruit and watermelon, for example. In the past, these would never have been grown in this country, but more and more growers are getting involved with the sweet classics. Something like that would have been unthinkable in northern Germany in the past."
"On the one hand, this development is already welcome. On the other hand, however, it is also associated with the fact that cherry cultivation, for example, is declining more and more because the maggots that take hold in the fruit present the growers with challenges that did not exist in the form in the past. It will probably be the case in the future that other crops will increasingly be grown here."
For more information:
Naturkost Kontor Bremen GmbH
Im Frischezentrum (Großmarkt Bremen)
Spezialitätenhalle Tor 14
Am Waller Freihafen 1
28217 Bremen
Tel: 0421 53797-70
Fax: 0421 53797-99
E-Mail: info@nkk-hb.de
Web: www.naturkost-kontor.de