For almost a month now, the Pantiru family's garlic farm in Lampertheim, southern Hesse, has been bustling with activity. "We started this year's harvest on May 15, roughly the same time as in previous years," reports Konstanze Pantiru, who runs the business together with her husband, Ciprian. "The quantities and qualities so far are roughly in line with the multi-year average, so we are satisfied with the start of this year's season overall." Unlike other regions in Germany, the weather in southern Hesse has been mostly dry so far. "However, if there is excessive rainfall in the coming weeks, it could become quite problematic."
Konstanze and Ciprian Pantiru during last year's on-site visit by FreshPlaza.de. The couple grows garlic on a total of around 50 hectares.
Marketing of the fresh garlic has gotten off to a good start. Pantiru: "We could have sold a lot more, but sales were consistently good in the first few weeks. Although most of our garlic is sold to food retailers, we are also seeing encouraging demand from regional wholesale markets." The price of fresh garlic from southern Hesse is extremely stable and roughly on par with last year's levels.
Unsorted produce (left) in temporary storage and marketable garlic. Fresh garlic is usually available until early to mid-August, while marketing of the dried variety is expected to begin at the end of June.
The Pantiru family has been growing garlic for ten years now (FreshPlaza reported). Domestic competition has increased steadily in recent years, the management confirms. "You can tell that we are no longer the only ones. Many producers have decided to grow garlic in recent years because they have realized that the product is becoming more important and that regionality is valued accordingly. Until a few years ago, competition from Dutch imports was particularly strong in the early stages. However, this has eased considerably in recent years. This indicates that domestic fresh garlic has become firmly established."
The domestic garlic is available in two sizes, 55/75 and 70/90.
However, pure specialists are still few and far between. "There are many producers who grow garlic on 1-2 hectares as a sideline. These 'smaller' producers usually withdraw from the market in July-August, which in turn could affect supply and prices. It should also be noted that garlic cultivation generally involves a great deal of manual labor. This high labor intensity is often underestimated and often leads to many farmers abandoning the crop after a few years."
In addition to growing and selling fresh and dried garlic from their own farm, the Pantiru family is also involved in seed trading and sweet potato cultivation. The latter business is growing steadily.
For more information:
Konstanze Pantiru
Pantiru Knoblauchkulturen GbR & Saatguthandel
In den Gärten 5
68623 Lampertheim
Tel: +49 (0)6206 1556140
Konstanze Pantiru: 0174 4678858
[email protected]
www.pantiru-knoblauchkulturen.de