On February 15 and 16, the first joint organic onion seminar of Bioland, Naturland and Bio Kartoffel Erzeuger e.V. took place at the Frauenberg conference monastery in Fulda. In addition to farmers, many marketing partners from all regions of Germany came to discuss current developments in organic onion cultivation, but especially in the organic onion market.
Organic onion cultivation has been greatly expanded in Germany in recent years, resulting in almost a doubling of cultivation area since 2018. "Despite high production costs, many farmers are interested in future cultivation," says Holger Buck, vegetable cultivation consultant Naturland. "Discussions with marketers also confirm the great interest of our farms in producing organic onions. However, we are a bit critical about all this," adds Korbinian Bogner, Bioland vegetable cultivation advisor and co-organizer of the seminar, with regard to the current marketing situation.
Detailed observation of cultivation and sales
This is because current market data show that, in addition to cultivation, the sales channels in the organic onion sector in particular are being further developed and that further investments - for example in modern storage technology for onions - must be made. Farmers and marketers debated these issues on Wednesday afternoon during a two-hour panel discussion in which both sides exchanged views with great candor.
"Because of the many challenges we now face, we at BKE announced last fall that we would expand our networking efforts, working on the future of organic onions through detailed monitoring of cultivation and sales. The seminar marked the official start of our new association project," says BKE Managing Director Josephine Hardt.
Farm development through increasing mechanization
In addition to the market, the seminar was devoted to current cultivation topics and technical innovations. Advisors from the growers' associations provided information on yield and quality building, as well as irrigation concepts, and gave helpful food for thought on how to counter the consequences of climate change in organic onion cultivation. In the practitioners' forum that followed, there was intensive discussion about the potential and challenges of farming with the Farm Droid.
Farmers from different regions of Germany reported critically and honestly about the first years with the agricultural robot on their farms. Further events, which are thematically oriented to the common focal points of the participants from agriculture and marketing are already being planned.
For more information:
Josephine Hardt
Bio Kartoffel Erzeuger e.V.
j.hardt@bke-verein.de
www.bke-verein.de