The first broccoli of this season was harvested in Brüggen in the Lower Rhine region at the end of May. The first promotions with loose produce took place in week 25. "We are already cutting crops that would normally not be harvested for another 1-2 weeks," reports Fabio Winzen, who grows broccoli on around 150 hectares and markets his produce exclusively through the Landgard producer cooperative. In addition to preparing loose produce for German food retailers, part of the yield is being processed into ready-to-cook broccoli florets for the first time this year. Winzen GbR has thus found a new outlet for oversized and undersized produce, as the producer confirmed in an interview on site.
© Hugo Huijbers | FreshPlaza.com
Fabio Winzen in the cold store. In addition to the preparation and packaging of fresh produce, part of the harvest is now also being processed further.
The large food retail chains rely almost exclusively on piece weights between 400 and 500 grams. "Until 2024, we had a food retail customer who also purchased 6kg boxes of different sizes. After this customer also switched to 500-gram units, we lost our sales channel for lighter and heavier products. This was an important motivation for us to work with the cooperative to find an alternative use, which we have now succeeded in doing with the new product line in the form of ready-to-cook broccoli florets." So far, the florets are available at two grocery chains in Germany.
© Hugo Huijbers | FreshPlaza.com
The freshly processed broccoli florets are sorted by hand one last time. Harvesting usually takes place until early/mid-November.
Good start to the season despite heatwave
So far, the producer can look back on a successful start to the harvest. "We have consistently good quality and relatively few problems with rot. At the moment, we have more than enough produce. It is already clear that this year's harvest will be higher than last year's, which was wet." The crop also survived the heatwave in weeks 26/27 relatively well, Winzen continues. "We harvested some of the crop at night because it was simply too hot to send the harvest workers out into the fields during the day. Even at temperatures well above 30 degrees, the broccoli is still of good quality, although its shelf life may be slightly shorter. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that slightly less produce will be available on the market from week 29/30 onwards. However, as demand is always somewhat weaker between mid-July and the end of August due to the summer holidays, this does not pose a problem." The Triton variety is currently being harvested, while Parthenon will predominate in the fall. Producer prices are currently significantly below last year's level.
Focus on selected specialty crops
The origins of broccoli cultivation at the Winzen farm date back to the early 1990s. Over the next two decades, the Winzen family devoted itself to both livestock farming and vegetable cultivation. Martin Winzen started growing broccoli. The business is now being continued by Fabio Winzen, the third generation of the family. After Fabio Winzen joined the company in 2019, vegetable cultivation was further expanded. In 2022, a new sorting and storage hall was put into operation, while the cultivation capacity for broccoli was expanded to approximately 150 hectares. "In addition to broccoli, we grow rhubarb on around 30 hectares in the spring, as these crops complement each other very well in terms of timing. Since last year, we have also been growing Jaroma cabbage on eight hectares, which looks like flat white cabbage and is planted, harvested, and marketed at around the same time as broccoli."
© Hugo Huijbers | FreshPlaza.com
Jaroma cabbage for the fresh market. Thanks to modern storage capacities, the flat cabbage can sometimes be offered until Christmas.
Overall, the broccoli producer is looking to the future with confidence: "We have found a great, forward-looking concept in broccoli florets and feel even stronger with Landgard as our cooperative and reliable marketing partner. This partnership gives us maximum sales security. In terms of cultivation, there are certainly numerous challenges that we will have to overcome in the medium to long term. Broccoli is a relatively labor-intensive crop that requires a lot of manual work throughout the entire cultivation process. We are now considering purchasing a fully automated planting machine. Automating the harvest is still difficult at the moment, but hopefully it will be feasible in the future to minimize rising costs and counteract falling producer prices," concludes Fabio Winzen.
© Hugo Huijbers | FreshPlaza.com
Left: Insight into the mechanical processing of broccoli. The stalks are later used as animal feed, creating a closed cycle. Right: Fabio Winzen shows fresh broccoli florets from his own production in recyclable 350g Topseal packaging.
For more information:
Fabio Winzen
Winzen GbR.
Haverslohe 2A
41379 Brüggen
E-Mail: [email protected]
www.landgard.de
