Sign up for our daily Newsletter and stay up to date with all the latest news You are receiving this pop-up because this is the first time you are visiting our site You are using software which is blocking our advertisements (adblocker) we are relying on revenues from our banners So please disable your adblocker and reload the page to continue using this site.Thanks have also been gaining in importance in the German cultivation for several years Obsthof Holderrieth in Schwaigern has also been growing the summer thirst quencher since 2018 and markets the watermelons both through its own farm shop and to selected Edeka branches and wholesalers Despite high price competition with imported goods and sometimes extreme fluctuations in demand the watermelon has become an integral part of his product portfolio Due to the predominantly wet and cold weather this year's melon harvest just began at the end of July Holderrieth summarises that sales were also very volatile this year There will probably still be goods available until mid-September it will generally be more difficult to sell larger quantities due to the generally cooler weather watermelon is ultimately a summer product beyond comparison." Overall Fruit producer Tobias Holderrieth has been cultivating watermelons since 2018 The fruit mainly grows outdoors on black mulch film Holderrieth also devotes himself to growing melons in the tunnel Inflation and price competitionThe watermelons and mini watermelons find their way to consumers either via the farm shop or regional retailers it remains difficult to compete with low-priced imported melons on the market." Inflation made things even more difficult this year we have also reduced our cultivation capacities somewhat this year although we have not observed any significant reluctance to buy so far." the strong fluctuations in demand are particularly challenging there is a certain continuity in marketing the quantities either flow away very quickly or hardly at all our home-grown watermelons are a great but extremely volatile product segment," he concludes growing other melon varieties such as Galia and Charentais is difficult FreshPublishers © 2005-2025 FreshPlaza.com It was an excursion into the future of modern cultivated mushroom production: as part of the BDC's 75th annual conference around 140 cultivated mushroom growers and interested parties visited the new Pilzkulturen Wesjohann GbR plant in Schwaigern After an introduction by Managing Director Dr there were exciting insights and culinary mushroom delicacies 50 tons of mushrooms a week leave Pilzland's new production facility in Schwaigern An order of magnitude that cannot be achieved without modern technology The participants of the 75th annual conference on September 30 were able to gain a personal impression of what this looks like on site Torben Kruse had already given a theoretical overview of what awaited the guests - and aroused their curiosity about modern technology Pilzland produces a total of around 490-500 tons of mushrooms per week of which around 8 percent are EU organic quality Almost half of the mushrooms harvested per week are cultivated in Lower Saxony (approx the range also includes fine mushrooms such as oyster mushrooms Assortment versus automationThe large assortment clearly meets the desire of consumers and retailers for variety Further developments in picking with robots were also shown And so harvesting at the Schwaigern plant continues to be done by hand They harvest the mushrooms from tilting cultivation beds The system with five stacked tiltable shelves from GTL Europe allows the pickers to control the harvesting position at the bed themselves with a remote controller Harvesting with the latest technologyThe pickers stand on harvesting belts at the shelves and place the mushrooms on a conveyor belt which transports the mushrooms to be weighed and packed A transport system takes the mushrooms to the temperature-controlled packing hall where accurate and fully automated weighing and packing into trays and boxes takes place Only one employee is required to reload or remove mushrooms if the weight of the tray is not quite correct Immediate cooling of the mushrooms after harvesting keeps the delicate product fresh After being wrapped and picked using the latest technology the mushrooms are transported to customers by the company's own fleet of vehicles Closed raw material cycleIn the new Pilzland plant - as in the others - only raw materials produced in-house are used 1,500 tons of mushroom substrate are supplied by the company's own production facility in Hogenböden to feed its entire in-house cultivation operations the company obtains heat and electricity from biogas plants Or biogas is purchased to produce electricity and heat with the company's own combined heat and power plants Electricity also comes from the company's own photovoltaic systems Kruse emphasized that a sustainable production method is one of Pilzland's goals This includes regional and CO2-neutral energy supply from renewable raw materials as well as the closed raw material cycle - from straw harvesting to the production of the mushroom substrate to the reuse of the mushroom mushrooms on agricultural land And all from a single source," reported the managing director The visitors of the new mushroom farm could convince themselves of the high quality of the mushrooms directly on site From classically fried mushrooms with various sauces to mushrooms in balsamic vinegar and small mushroom tartelettes everything was on offer - much to the delight of the guests a perfect conclusion to the 75th Annual Meeting For more information:www.pilzland.de