The cabbage season on the island of Fehmarn ended relatively early this year. "In June and July, shortly after planting, there were several heavy rainfall events. This, in turn, led to some of our fields, unfortunately, being flooded, meaning that we were unable to harvest around ten per cent of our crops. We were then short of these quantities at the end of the season, so we had to end this year's campaign in mid-February, two to three weeks earlier than usual," summarizes Peter Joachim Witt, specialist savoy cabbage producer and managing director of Witt Insel-Gemüse GmbH & Co. KG.
© Witt Insel-Gemüse GmbH & Co KGIn addition to growing savoy cabbage, Peter-Joachim Witt also grows white and red cabbage. A total of around 120 hectares of Savoy cabbage are grown on the island of Fehmarn, mainly the Alaska and Nebraska varieties.
Below-average market prices
Witt goes on to say that it has not been an easy season at the marketing level either. "Prices have been relatively weak since the beginning of the season and only rose slightly towards the end of the season. Nevertheless, this year's price level was significantly below the average of previous years. As a result, producer prices were unfortunately not sufficient in relation to the renewed increase in production costs," he explains.
Lack of manpower
Demand, on the other hand, was quite high and stable throughout the season. Witt: "Shortly after the turn of the year, we had difficulties processing our cabbage because we were sometimes short of Romanian seasonal workers. Unfortunately, we also had to cancel one or two retail promotions. That was much easier in previous years." The marketing window for Fehmarn savoy cabbage usually runs from mid-November to early March, with January being the most important sales month. Competition from imported goods, for example from Italy, was relatively manageable this year, he added.
Discontinuation of important pesticides
The quality of this year's savoy cabbage crop was also extremely satisfactory. "Apart from the ten per cent or so that was not harvested, we were able to deliver our savoy cabbage in excellent condition throughout. In terms of size, there was a bit of everything, although oversized cabbages (10 kg+) were somewhat underrepresented. Furthermore, we also had the usual problems with whiteflies and the like this year, which meant that we sometimes had to put in a little extra effort in post-harvest treatment. We still have pest control pretty well under control. However, starting next season, we will be missing an important tool in Movento. This could therefore become a critical factor in the future. Overall, however, I see the future as relatively unproblematic, and I remain convinced that we have found a good, stable niche with savoy cabbage."
For more information:
Peter Joachim Witt
Witt Insel-Gemüse GmbH & Co KG
Blieschendorf 6
23769 Landkirchen / Fehmarn
Tel: +49 (0)4371 3527
Mobile: +49 (0)178 48 04 982
[email protected]
https://www.insel-gemuese.de
