In the mega greenhouses opposite the power station at Neurath (Germany) the harvest is in full swing, reports the German website ngz-online.de. Under the 10.7 hectares of glass windows through which the Summer sun is shining, 5,000 to 5,500 tonnes of vegetable per year is ripening. The main buyers are supermarket chains 'Netto' and 'Rewe'.
The measurements of the greenhouses with the apparently endless rows of tomato plants are impressive. Two years ago the 'Neurather Gärtner', to which Wilhelm Baum, Carten Knodt, Matthias Draek and company leader Dirk Drießen belong, put the largest greenhouse complex in Nordrhein-Westfalen into use - a twelve million Euro investment.
Evelin Szekeres cuts off a vine of multiple bright red Lyterno tomatoes from a plant with a pair of scissors. The young woman from Hungary has worked at the 'Neurather Gärtner' for a year now, the company has 40 permanent employees. Then the harvest cart automatically moves further down the path between the high tomato plants. "The harvest runs from March to December here. This year we started two to three weeks later due to the dark weather, but now everything is back on track," says Wilhelm Baum. The varieties 'Lyterno' and the slightly larger 'Capricia' are grown in Neurath.
In the hall next door the driving 'harvest helps' are unloaded and the boxes of tomatoes are automatically stacked for transport. "Our supply area is Nordrhein-Westfalen, mainly the Ruhrgebied. We value regional sales," according to Baum.