In November 2012, the Tomabel family expanded production with lamb’s lettuce. Filip Verlae is one of those growers cultivating lettuce for Tomabel. According to him, the market has been a precarious one since early May. "Until the end of April all was well, and then the price began to drop. Three weeks ago we hit a low point with 30 cents, while April still gave us 3 to 4 Euro. Due to the cold weather last week, prices picked up again, but not impressively. Currently we’re around 80 cents."
The grower indicates that there is always a difference between Tomabel’s lamb's lettuce and the 'normal' lettuce. "Overall we are slightly higher in price. But we also have higher costs. We keep high demands on the care, appearance and packaging of our products." Another complication is caused by irregular supplies from Southern countries such as France and Italy. "Prices over there aren’t great either, which will likely lead to even lower production volumes.”
Filip Verlae has a horticultural company in the Belgian town of Izegem and began with the cultivation of lettuce 15 years ago. He has a small hectare of corn salad and also some ornamental shrubs growing in the open air. The grower says that domestic trade and Germany are the largest consumers of their product.
More information:
Filip Verlae
Pater van Eeckestraat 22
8870 Izegem
Tel: (051)-311801
