Despite the heat and drought, this year's cabbage and lettuce harvest on the Filderebene had started normally, he said. "In the cabbage sector there has been a little more loss of quantity and quality. The lettuce, on the other hand, has grown up well for the most part, as we have additionally irrigated the crops with watering trucks," sums up Albrecht Briem, managing director of the vegetable farm of the same name with locations in Filderstadt and at the Stuttgart wholesale market.
"At peak times, we harvest and market up to 5,000 boxes of lettuce a day," says the vegetable producer, who is the third generation to run the company and farms a total of around 100 hectares. "Iceberg lettuce is still our main item in terms of volume, while lettuce is rather declining. The marketing of coloured lettuces has been largely stable in recent years. In general, we have the great advantage that we have a long-standing partnership with some producers in the south of France, which is why we can also serve our customers with high-quality salads outside our own harvest season, i.e. from November to April."
Albrecht Briem (l) and sales manager Signh Balwinder are responsible for stand sales at the local wholesale market in Stuttgart.
Cabbage and new crops
In addition to lettuce, Briem also produces cabbage vegetables such as white and red cabbage, savoy cabbage and the popular Filderspitzkraut. Briem: "We observe a relatively stable demand in the category of cabbage vegetables. However, it has to be said that the out-of-home market and the processing industry have increased, while sales to food retailers have lost some of their importance."
Over the years, the product range has undergone some innovations, Briem continues. "We have been offering Crispy lettuce in red and green for several years. However, new crops are a difficult issue from a cultivation point of view, as the quantities are often too small compared to the high effort involved." He also says that the increasing shortage of harvest workers does not necessarily make growing high-maintenance crops more attractive. "We have about 50 to 60 people in production, but seasonal workers are increasingly difficult to get."
In addition to the wholesale business, the company's own fleet of vehicles also supplies food retailers, various chain shops and wholesalers.
Trials to reduce plant protection products
Despite the omnipresent challenges in vegetable production, Briem looks positively ahead. "My two sons are both active in the business: One is a master market gardener and the other is a trained wholesale merchant, which is of course an optimal duo. In addition, we have been actively accompanying and supporting trials to reduce plant protection products for some years now. We also want to expand this further in the coming years."
Further information:
Albrecht Briem
Briem Feldgemüse GmbH
Bruckenackerhof 2
70794 Filderstadt
Telefon: +49 711 702864
Telefax: +49 711 704184
E-Mail: info@briem-feldgemuese.de
www.briem-feldgemuese.de