The open field lettuce season is in full swing at Lucassen Agri Cultuur. The family run company has more than 40 years experience growing different kinds of lettuce in the open field. On 222 acres in Sevenum, The Netherlands the company grows a wide assortment of lettuce, including: cabbage lettuce, green and red oak leaf lettuce, lollo rosso, lollo bionda, romaine lettuce and the Salavona types, including Frisée, Butter lettuce and oak leaf lettuce. Their lettuce crops are doing well, and so far they have not had any problems with fusarium.
90% of their customers are Dutch and foreign processing companies, supplemented with some sales to (catering) wholesalers. John Lucassen likes supplying based on a contract, "Without contracts we would not dare to plant any lettuce; you need stability. Demand for lettuce is good right now, but if we only had access to the fresh market, we wouldn't be doing as well."
Although the hospitality sector uses more and more different kinds of Italian lettuce mixes, there is still a limited volume, says John. At Lucassen Agri Cultuur the demand for cabbage lettuce is the highest. The Salanova is also popular. Also, the demand for lettuce always rises in the summer, as long as the temperature does not rise too far above 30 degrees Celsius (86* Fahrenheit).
For more information:
Lucassen Agri Cultuur
Helenaveenseweg 5
5975 MS Sevenum
T +31 (0)6-53371063
j@lucassenagri.nl