ORGANIC OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND IN GERMAN MARKET
THE MARKET FOR ORGANIC VEGETABLES IS BOOMING IN GERMANY. CONSUMERS THERE SPENT 22% MORE ON THEM IN 2019 THAN IN THE PREVIOUS YEAR. TODAY MORE THAN 8% OF VEGETABLES SOLD IN THE COUNTRY ARE ORGANIC. CARROTS HAVE BY FAR THE LARGEST MARKET SHARE IN THE SEGMENT, REPRESENT NEARLY 30% OF SALES. THOUGH SEVERE DROUGHT LED TO A LEAN YEAR FOR CARROTS IN 2018, SALES BOUNCED BACK BY 12% IN 2019.
An import country
Although Germany is well suited to agriculture thanks to its large area and low population density, when it comes to vegetables it’s long been an import country. With the strong focus on industry, such as car manufacturing, vegetable cultivation has developed more slowly. But things are changing. We talked to Pieter Gabriëls, the director of Bejo Germany. “German organic growers have made great strides in terms of produce quality and yields,” he told us. “Since 2013, domestic organic carrot production has grown by 26%, to more than 53,000 tonnes in 2019. But total demand is still about 20% to 30% above that. At 42%, the share of organic carrot consumption accounted for by imports is still substantial. The greatest import volumes by far come from the Netherlands. More than half of Dutch organic carrots are sold on the German market. Organic carrots are imported from Israel and Spain specifically to compensate for the shortfall at the end of the winter season.”
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BEJO CARROT MAGAZINE
Increased area
After a period of stabilization, the acreage devoted to organic carrot cultivation increased by 9% in 2019, to 2,377 hectares. That’s about 17% of all land devoted to organic vegetables in Germany. The carrots are grown for use as snack, tray, winter and bunch carrots. They’re grown in the same areas as conventional produce, although organic cultivation is difficult in intensively farmed areas. In southwestern Germany, for example, combining the two increases disease pressure.
Bejo varieties • Storage: Norway and Nacton (organic seed), Nerac (conventional NCT seed, can be used for organic) • Early: Napoli (organic seed) • Taste: Mokum as snack carrots (NCT seed), Miami (organic seed)