Chris Washington is impressed: "It's crazy how big it is, I didn't expect that," says the food influencer about his visit to two major fruit and vegetable-producing provinces in southern Europe: Almeria and Granada. He spent three days there with his colleagues to learn first-hand about the entire process of the food chain and the details of their sustainable production methods. "It's great that the growers use beneficial insects instead of pesticides for tomato production," he says. Tomatoes are one of his favourite products all year round: "I eat a lot of tomatoes from solar greenhouses in winter. They are very juicy and have a good consistency." Chris Washington can be found on social media as @veganewunder.
Tibella Kömürcü (@bellasrezepte) also shows how important sun-warmed vegetables are in the winter kitchen: "It's great how the vegetables are really nice and fresh, organic quality. And above all, that tomatoes are available all year round!" Washington and Kömürcü travelled to Spain together with Nadine Moll (@foodwerk.de), Nina Witt (@foodykani) and four other influencers from Spain.
The group visited several farms, marketers and companies specialising in biological pest control. "It was very interesting to see how fruits and vegetables are grown sustainably and in compliance with all quality standards. It's great that they are produced without additional energy," Nadine Moll says enthusiastically. Nina Witt has a similar view: "For me, it was important to see that they are grown in an environmentally friendly way."
The food service industry also played an important role during the visit. Dishes made from greenhouse vegetables were of particular importance – after all, recipes are the focus of the influencers, who have a total of 4,658,000 followers across all their social profiles. The aim of the trip was to show them all the advantages of sunlight production. In addition, German consumers can follow @ausdemgewachshaus on Instagram and Facebook for more information.
Retail events
At the beginning of the year, action days were held in more than 300 stores and branches of the Edeka retail chain. In Munich, Nuremberg, Teuchern, Wilhelmshaven, Marsberg, Hannover, Hennef Uckerath, Laupheim, Hamm, Ratingen, Weil der Stadt and Schleswig, customers were able to experience the sustainable production of fruits and vegetables in solar greenhouses up close. Similar events are planned for the coming months.
Background
HortiEspaña, the Spanish organisation for the fruit and vegetable sector, has launched the "Es de Invernadero" programme. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of the advantages of solar greenhouse cultivation in southern Europe, one of the most important sustainable fruit and vegetable growing regions in the world. The three-year initiative (until February 2026) in Spain and Germany has a total investment of €2 million and is co-financed by HortiEspaña and the European Union as part of the promotion of agricultural and food products under the slogan "Enjoy, It's from Europe".
For more information:
www.instagram.com/ausdemgewachshaus