Own production of leafy vegetables recovers

The Spanish outdoor vegetable season faced challenges this year due to weather conditions, and this was also the case at Savasun, Staay Food Group’s cultivation site in Tarragona.

“It didn’t rain as much at our plant as in Valencia, but the weather did prevent us from sowing on time. If you can’t sow for two or three days, it’s manageable, but if it takes two or three weeks, you really notice it. As a result, we had supply problems with products like spinach, endive, and frisée,” says Bianca van der Staaij.

Her father, Ad, started growing Spanish outdoor vegetables in 1987, and her son, Lars, has since joined the company as a representative of the next Van der Staaij generation. In this way, Staay continues to grow outdoor vegetables, including leafy vegetables. Together with lettuce from hydroponic cultivation in the Netherlands, the traditionally grown leafy vegetables form a substantial part of Staay Food Group’s turnover. It is not for nothing that the leafy vegetable product group is one of the three spearheads, alongside pears and melons. From November to March, Staay trucks drive the fresh product daily, just after harvest, to customers in Belgium and the Netherlands.

“By now, the biggest problems are behind us, and we can once again supply our customers with spinach in abundance. Depending on weather conditions and the start-up of cultivation in the Netherlands, I do expect us to be able to deliver from Spain until the end of April,” Bianca says. “But the weather conditions are not yet optimal. The daytime temperature here varies between 11 and 18 degrees, and the night temperatures remain just on the low side. In addition, we have had quite a lot of cloudy weather, and then you see that it all doesn’t grow as fast. But the whole of Spain has to deal with that; in Murcia, they have the same problems.”

Staay-Savasun grows as many as 20 different types of vegetables on its own acreage and also a wide range of fruit. The vast majority of the vegetables (over 90%) are exported to the Dutch and Belgian markets. In addition, the Spanish cultivation company directly supplies customers in the local and French markets. For spinach in particular, Bianca sees a notable increase in sales. “This is mainly because more and more spinach is being included in mixed lettuce by the slicers. We do have our customers in all segments, but for leafy vegetables, the vast majority find their way to the slicers.”

Asked about the biggest challenges, Bianca mentions the shrinking resource base. “This is quite worrying because alternatives are hardly available. Since the agents are becoming less effective, you have to do more spraying, which causes a sharp increase in costs. And while our colleagues in countries like Egypt and Morocco are allowed to use these agents, it feels frustrating at times because we all want healthy and clean products. However, it becomes more and more of a challenge to have the products meet the set quality requirements.”

“At the same time, I see a bright future for Savasun. But we will have to adapt and keep investing. For example, at the open days of breeders in Murcia last week, I came across a machine that uses laser beams to kill weeds. Such innovations require hefty investments but are the future for us. Here in Spain, too, many smaller breeding companies are dropping out because they can no longer afford the investments and/or due to lack of succession. That is fortunately guaranteed with us.”

Source: “Increasing inclusion of spinach in mixed salad”