Kai Reinheimer, managing director of the vegetable farm of the same name in Ginsheim, tells us that, as with many others, his farm has also been severely affected by the drought. "However, it also had a positive effect for some crops such as tomatoes, peppers and melons. Our tomatoes were planted on May 3 and they could already be harvested on June 20, with the season slowly coming to an end. Thanks to the weather, on the one hand quality was very good, and on the other hand we were able to keep the use of plant protection chemicals down," says Reinheimer. The vegetable company offers 18 varieties of tomatoes, including tiger, cocktail, date, oxheart and Italian soup tomatoes. The company can market 9-10 tons per week.
Good development of demand
"Our customers include online store Knuspr.de, as well as REWE and regional weekly markets and farm stores. We do not sell any goods to the industry, but we have sold about 3-4 tons of tomatoes to wholesalers," said Reinheimer. "Demand started off somewhat sluggish, but then it developed very well. There was a bit of a downturn during the holidays, certainly as we also sell our products on the border between Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate, where the holidays coincided. That meant there was a brief, six week lull. Apart from that, however, things were going extremely well. With volumes now dropping, sales are dropping a bit as well, but everything can be sold."
Price increase of 30 percent
In the case of tomatoes, Reinheimer has seen a price increase of 30 percent compared to last year, which is due in no small part to the high costs of energy and labor as well as fertilizer, seed, pesticides and packaging. Reinheimer was able to maintain its prices for more than five months, and only made price adjustments toward the end.
"For the most part, we were able to cover our costs. We grow a lot of crops and naturally the situation varied from product to product. But if we end up with a small profit at the end of the year, we can already consider ourselves lucky, because we will need this year's revenues to balance out next year's additional costs."
Impact of the procurement problem
Not having had any major losses as a business is really great, Reinheimer says. However, he also stresses that another problem is brewing regarding the procurement of production inputs such as fertilizer and crop protection, as well as spare parts. "I expect big gaps in our industry. Many farms have not ordered anything yet and they can hardly plan ahead for next year. Some are even considering quitting rather than continuing under these circumstances."
In this context, he said that fixed contracts in which corresponding fixed yields were agreed for certain calendar weeks, could be fatal, as these might not be met in view of the crises. "Of course, this could not have been foreseen. Nevertheless, I have heard from colleagues that some have had to pay high penalties. For the coming year, this then means that either there will be no contracts with fixed prices, or the agreed volumes will have to be adjusted."
Cooperation with knuspr.de
"We have grown about 100 crops this year. In our region, there are not many farms that can do that. Knuspr is basically in the neighborhood. As a distributor, you either have the option of getting individual products from 20 different farms or, in our case, getting up to 60 products a day from one farm. With that in mind, we were able to come to a great agreement quickly. For Knuspr, this is ideal because they can order from us every day, without much effort."
