With now two locations in the Alte Land and over 30 years of experience in the industry, Rolker Ökofrucht GmbH is currently one of the largest marketers of organically produced pome and stone fruit in Germany. During a tour of the company's headquarters in Osterladekop, we spoke with the company's management about this year's apple season and trends in organic fruit.
The pome fruit marketing season also got off to a slow start at Rolker Ökofrucht. "We had an above-average crop last year in 2022 that was ready for marketing. Due to the generally negative economic situation in the fall of 2022, we considered this a major challenge from the start," describes Jörn Rolker, managing director of the company. From March 2023, he says, marketing and thus destocking accelerated noticeably, due in part to many promotions in the trade. "The persistent cold weather in the spring also benefits us in apple sales, of course. Producer prices, on the other hand, remained well below the previous season, with sharply higher operating and production costs."
Elstar stock is now gradually drawing to a close, after which the Jonagold group will increasingly come to the fore. Topaz, meanwhile, will run until mid-June, while Natyra is particularly suitable for late marketing from late May/early June. A large part of the volume will be delivered in northern Germany. Rolker: "Nevertheless, a relatively large amount is also being marketed nationally this year; we are currently experiencing high demand from the whole of Germany. Furthermore, we also export organic fruit to neighboring countries, primarily to Scandinavia."
Volume increase in organic sweet cherries
In addition to pome fruit from the surrounding growing area, Rolker also markets stone fruit, especially sweet cherries from protected cultivation and plums. "We usually start the season with the first badger cherries in mid-June. This year we will also be able to purchase fruit from a conversion farm for the first time, so we are planning for an increase in volume," Rolker concludes.
Packing of loose apples: The heat during the growing season has led to a higher proportion of rejects and industrial goods.
Plump organic apples from regional cultivation. The Alte Land is one of the most important apple-growing regions in northwestern Europe, and about 20 percent of the orchards are now farmed according to organic standards.
Freshly sorted apples. In addition to the fruit from its own cultivation (approx. 100 ha), Rolker markets the yields of a total of 30 contract growers and thus an area of almost 900 ha. Only organic produce or produce in conversion as well as produce from the Demeter, Naturland or Bioland growers' associations is traded.
The most modern sorting technology from Greefa. Each apple is photographed with 20 cameras throughout the entire sorting process and inspected on the basis of various parameters such as coloration, stem attachment, etc. In total, up to ten tons/hour can be sorted.
Fresh, sustainably packaged organic apples: Rolker has a total of four Blitzmatic packaging lines at its Osterladekop site. In addition to cardboard, cellulose and corn starch bags are also used.
In total, about 25,000 tons of organic apples are prepared, packed and dispatched each year, which corresponds to about half of the total organic volume in the Alte Land.
Packed Demeter apples
Topaz apples in a water bath
The organic fruit is delivered with their own vehicles.
Further information:
Jörn Rolker
Rolker Ökofrucht GmbH
Osterladekop 5
21635 Jork
Tel.: +49 4162 91389 162
Fax: +49 4162 91389 18
Email: info@rolker.com
www.rolker.com