In Quelle, a district of the German town of Bielefeld, Mark Meyer grows tomatoes. When he got the idea in 2003 to start growing tomatoes, people used to mock him for it. Tomatoes? The market is saturated by tomatoes. Who would buy tomatoes from him and why? But now Mark is the one who’s laughing: his business is actually going quite well.
Quelle is currently experiencing its high season: the few rows of tomato plants at the beginning of the experiment have become an acreage of 9000 square meters under glass. Romanian labourers pick an average of five to six tons of tomatoes per week.
The last week of July in particular yielded a record harvest. Over 11.5 tons was collected that week. The vegetables arrive three times a week in the fresh stores in Quelle, Hoberge and Herford. The average portion is about € 2.50.