A great deal of attention is currently being paid to lettuce that's grown in high-tech hydroponic systems or vertical cultivation systems. With all these technological developments it's easy to forget that corn salad is grown in Dutch and Belgian greenhouses. It's a relatively small crop that benefits from the trend among consumers for convenience products. Field grower Johan Vanackere-Degryse: "Consumers are increasingly grabbing a bag of corn salad."
Corn salad ready for harvest at Vanackere-Degryse
In the Belgian town of Westrozebeke, Johan grows lettuce on an acreage of 1.6 hectares under glass. Until 2014 he cultivated head lettuce. High heating costs and a decreasing demand for head lettuce made him decide to switch to cultivating corn salad. According to Johan, the cultivation of corn salad is a lot easier than the cultivation of head lettuce. Johan: "The harvest is completely mechanical, so you don't need any additional staff, you no longer have to be constantly bent over, you don't have to heat the greenhouse and besides, corn salad is hardly sprayed."
Still, corn salad is not an easy or inexpensive crop, according to Aalt Baatje and Peter de Koning. With an acreage of 10 hectares, Aalt is one of the few remaining Dutch growers of corn salad, while Peter, on behalf of Versland Selection, arranges the sales on contract. Peter: "After the harvest, corn salad is thoroughly washed in a so-called washing line. The investment in such a washing line makes corn salad a difficult crop to start with for small growers. On the customer side of things there is growth, but because of the high cost of entry it is stagnating on the grower's side."
Aalt Baatje and Peter de Koning at the washing line for corn salad from Versland Selection.
Both Aalt and Johan grow corn salad year-round. Once sown, the lettuce is ready for harvest in the winter after about ninety days, while in the summer corn salad can be harvested after about thirty days. Aalt: "The challenge is to have a constant lettuce production all year round." Twice a year, Aalt makes agreements with Peter about the contract prices and his supply. Because growing during winter is considerably slower than in the summer, those prices are higher in winter than in summer. Aalt: "The production decreases in the winter, but the costs simply continue, so that's something you want to see included in the price." Peter: "The margins you work with must be acceptable to both parties, but at the end of the year neither of us drives a Ferrari."Johan, like Aalt, delivers on contract. His sales are done through REO Veiling. He says that 2018 is a good year so far. Johan: "The production is stable and because the sales go through contracts, it is especially important to get as many kilograms as possible." Albert Heijn is Johan's largest buyer. Before the corn salad ends up on the shelves, the lettuce is first washed, cut and packed by vegetable processor Koninklijke Vezet. Johan: "Day trade is hardly there in summer, but in the winter there is still a reasonable amount going to the REO Veiling."
Different corn salad traditions
In the Netherlands there is no longer any corn salad at all being sold via auction clock. And that is not the only difference between the cultivation of corn salad in the Netherlands and Belgium. Peter: "Both crops are corn salad, but it's hardly comparable." Aalt harvests the corn salad and it is shipped loose in boxes of five to six kilograms, and that's how the corn salad comes in. Then it's washed. In Belgium, a lot of corn salad is shipped upright in kilogram boxes to the auction, and that corn salad is finally cut and packaged in a salad mix or individually in a bag. That different way of harvesting makes it two separate worlds. Aalt: "There are times when auctioning in Belgium is also interesting for us in terms of price, but due to the different harvesting methods it is pointless for me to try to sell at Belgian auctions."
Johan is GlobalGAP certified and every month REO Veiling comes by for a residue analysis. The test samples go to the lab in Ghent and only with a good result is he allowed to harvest. In case of bad results, the harvest must be destroyed. Johan: "Fortunately, that has never happened in these four years, and I also don't know any growers that this happened to. With ten to fifteen percent I always stay well below the MRL limit."
Since 2016, Aalt has been growing in line with the requirements of Milieukeur (since this spring it's called On the Way to Planetproof). Aalt: "As a result, I grow my corn salad forty percent more cleanly than the legal MRL standard, and I am therefore close to organic cultivation. However, if there are cultivation problems there is hardly anything I can do, so everything has to be right. The consumer ultimately wants a clean product, on the outside and on the inside." Peter: "With lettuce it's good or not, there's no room for error. If a leaf breaks, it's done for. There's no room on the market for a product of slightly lower quality."
The harvester in Westrozebeke (Belgium)
This article appeared earlier in edition 6, 32nd volume of Primeur. See www.agfprimeur.nl.
For more information:
Tuinbouwbedrijf Aalt Baatje
Aalt Baatje
Versland Selection
Peter de Koning