There was a time (not too far in the past) when the municipality of Entrena, in the region of La Rioja, was a real national power in the cultivation and marketing of leeks. Today, the town still handles and distributes 20% of the production of this vegetable in Spain, although the product does no longer have the importance that it once had for the local industry.
Leek cultivation in Entrena started in the middle of the previous century; it was introduced as a way to expand the range of products with which the municipality was supplying the market. At that time, local farms also harvested beets and carrots. Back then, it was common to see producers cleaning leeks by the doors of their houses and washing them in the river. An industry grew from that, and around the mid-70s, Entrena was the base for fifteen companies devoted to leeks, which shipped this vegetable to the main central markets of the north.
"This was the boom period, but Entrena encountered some difficulties. Here the soil is hard and clayey and the crop started to be replaced by other more suitable ones. Also, a greater production and a larger acreage were needed," recounts Eduardo Rodríguez, manager of Frutas y Verduras del País, which currently handles the largest volumes of this product in Entrena.
So leek disappeared from the farms. In the mid-80s, production moved from Entrena to Castile-Leon and Andalusia and now this vegetable is brought from almost all Spanish regions. In the town, the vegetable now only undergoes the process of cleaning, packaging, tying and boxing, culminating in the product's distribution to nearly every corner of the country. In fact, Entrena markets 20% of the leeks produced in Spain, which is about 20 million units per year.
Currently, Entrena grows mainly vines and Conference pears, which take about 98% of the land. "They are more profitable," points out Rodríguez. This has resulted in only five warehouses still working with leeks in the town, with none devoted exclusively to them. "The volume of leeks has gone down by 10% over the last two years," state the manager of Frutas y Verduras del País.
There is great uncertainty about the future of the vegetable in Entrena. "We want to stand and fight for it, but we are not at the source of production, so we have to deal with higher prices compared to other regions due to logistics costs. Our product is more expensive and we work with smaller margins, of about 5%," explains Rodríguez.
