At the invitation of Nese Erikli, Member of the Baden-Württemberg Parliament, the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture of the Federal Republic of Germany, Cem Özdemir, visited Reichenau-Gemüse eG, Germany's southernmost vegetable growing region. During a tour of the state-of-the-art marketing facility, the minister was first able to get an idea of the high quality and the current, very broad range of vegetables grown by the Reichenau market gardeners. Around 14,000 tons of fresh vegetables leave the marketing facility every year. 50 % of the turnover and 35 % of the quantity are already in organic quality according to the specifications of the associations Naturland and Bioland.
However, all those involved in vegetable production are concerned about the current market conditions. For 30 years, there has been a common economic area in the EU without tariffs and other residual regulations. However, vegetables are produced in the other member states at significantly lower costs than in Germany. Due to these distortions of competition, German fruit and vegetable production suffers greatly, said Johannes Bliestle, managing director of the cooperative, who is also chairman of the Federal Association of Producer Organizations. In this context, the topic of minimum wages was also raised. Here, Germany is the front-runner after Luxembourg. According to Bliestle, the farms will not be able to cope economically with another short-term increase.
Afterwards, the minister visited a typical family farm to get an idea of the organic production there. He was very impressed by the high professionalism of the young farm manager Manuel Uricher.
Minister Peter Hauk launches the ministry's new regional campaign on the island of Reichenau
Together with the managing director of Reichenau-Gemüse eG, Johannes Bliestle, the Minister of Food, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection Baden-Württemberg, Peter Hauk, opened the new campaign of the state of Baden-Württemberg "Natürlich. VON DAHEIM." The campaign's motto, "We do it," focuses on people, products, and other participants in the value chain. Transparency, trust, enjoyment - Baden-Württemberg offers all this with its many different producers and skilled workers in the food trade.
And so it is not surprising that at the campaign launch, a large number of Reichenau gardeners also listened intently to the words of the Minister of Agriculture. For it is precisely these growers who give the campaign a face. Directly from the field, or from the greenhouse, to the consumer's plate. Producers, marketers, processors, they are the central cornerstones of our regional food, said the Minister. And that is exactly what Reichenau-Gemüse eG and its nearly 50 producers stand for regionality, transparency, enjoyment, trust, and sustainability.
For more information:
www.von-daheim.de
www.reichenaugemuese.de
