Swiss organic vegetable growing company Seeland Bio will open a brand new processing and packing hall in Reed near Kirzers (Canton Freiburg) on December 11. The integrated filling station with a total area of about 1200 m2 has a total of five filling lines. “Nets, tube bags or food trays – we can supply organic vegetables in any desired packaging,” says manager Bruno Christin. However, the biggest advantage lies in logistics. “We now have biological expertise concentrated under one roof instead of in different locations.”
New building
The family business grows in open fields and greenhouses. According to Christine, the 2023 planting year has been particularly difficult. “There are still potatoes and carrots in the ground that have not yet been harvested. This is partly due to the significant delay in planting, but also due to extremely wet field conditions.”
cabbage
Seeland Bio is also famous for its kale. Christine: “We were very early this year. We were able to harvest our first produce in September, whereas we usually only start harvesting in mid-October. The late plants were also ready to harvest too early, which resulted in the quality deteriorating and we had to “We are sorting more than usual.” At the same time, prices remain at approximately the same level as last year, with a sharp increase in costs. “There is a lot of pressure on prices in the cabbage sector and we have to calculate that very carefully, especially for a specialty like cabbage.”
“On the other hand, there have been some very good returns for greenhouse crops,” Christen continues. Although inflation and a decline in purchasing power have also led to a general decline in demand for organic products in Switzerland, there is no sign of a decline in volumes from Freiburg farms. “The new building will help us meet the growing demand in the future,” Christen concludes. “We want to continue growing on this basis: Switzerland’s population is growing and with it the demand for vegetables from local organic farming.”
for more information:
Bruno Christine
Sealand Bio – Christine Jimosebau
Mortenster. 61
CH-3216 Red Bay Cursors, Switzerland
Phone: +41 79 211 80 13
[email protected]
www.seelandbio.ch
