Growing asparagus is a family affair for Laurent Bouillard, who produces on 45 hectares with his two sons, Damien and Anthony. In charge of three farms in the Gard department, Domaine de Sorbeyret also produces cherries, mirabelle plums, olives and grapes. “For the asparagus, we have 2 hectares in greenhouses and the rest in open fields. The first harvest in greenhouses took place on January 26th and the last one should be in one or two weeks. The campaign started very well, with good quality and very nice prices.”
This year’s open field production was delayed by two to three weeks. “We started the open field harvest two weeks ago. The cold winter temperatures delayed the production and last week’s freezing temperatures damaged the exposed tips of the asparagus, making them unfit for consumption. This situation is a problem for the scheduling of the season. The more the production spreads out in time, the easier it is to manage. Since the asparagus grow very well with temperatures of 18-20°C, the 2022 campaign is likely to be delayed.”
Laurent Bouillard produces white asparagus in tunnels, and some purple asparagus as well, which are sold on the local market. “The purple asparagus is very popular in Provence, from Marseille to Avignon. That is why we grow it without tarps, so it takes on this beautiful purple color before turning green. The purple asparagus actually corresponds to the intermediate stage of evolution between a white and a green asparagus. It is the same vegetable, which simply stays white if grown under tarps and gets its color when exposed to sunlight.”
