Dutch organic farmer, Gert van Brakel, has just sold his last organic pak choi. Lovely large, weighty organic pak choi from good 'Dutch clay soil'. The grower showed that on Dutch TV last week. Earlier this year, a TV crew from a Dutch broadcaster visited Gert.
An image from that TV broadcast.
Cucumber
In the program, culinary expert Alain Caron also had a look at Gert's cucumber crop. The organic grower alternates leafy crop cultivation with (snack) cucumbers. The organic cucumber season's already well underway in the Netherlands. "The market's currently difficult," says Gert, who's affiliated with Nautilus Organic. "Spain's still very much on it at the moment. But that'll be over soon."
The last batches of lettuce are also going out. Gert will start planting pak choi again in September. "Then we can harvest again in November. Let's hope viewers will still remember this program by then," laughs Gert.
Popular pak choi
The organic pak choi market is growing slightly. However, it's still mainly 'conscious organic shoppers' that buy the product. That's in health food shops and via organic meal boxes. That's what Nautilus sales representative, Coert Lamers, said last year.
The global pandemic has had little effect on that. Though, for a short time last year, people were stockpiling plenty of organic pak choi. "We do get requests from the retail sector. But not yet on a structural basis. So, you can't yet organize your cultivation plan accordingly. We already do so with cucumbers," concludes Gert.
For more information:
Nautilus Organic
Website: www.nautilusorganic.nl
Coert Lamers
Email: clamers@nautilusorganic.nl