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Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - In the Corona lockdowns, walks were suddenly pretty popular - there wasn't much else to do. This vile hobby has brought new customers to the fruit paradise in Staufen in southern Baden. “A lot of people discovered us on walks,” says Johannes Geng, owner of the fruit farm, which sells fruit, juices and bought-in vegetables in its own farm shop and at markets. And even now, customers valued his farm as a destination, especially in everyday life with children - according to the motto: "Then we were all outside to go shopping before we went back to the wilderness of home offices."
Geng is seeing increased demand for its products - and is not alone.
The farmers' association speaks of a real boom in farm shops, markets and vending machines.
"The people of Baden-Württemberg are running into our farmers 'booth," says Ariane Amstutz, spokeswoman for the state farmers' association, the German press agency.
The trend started with the first corona wave - presumably because people were worried about getting infected with the corona virus in full supermarkets.
Quite a few farmers have entered direct marketing in the wake of the crisis, says Amstutz.
Even after more than a year of pandemic, the increased demand for directly sold regional products is sustained.
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Fruit farmer Geng says he attributes the increase to a change in cooking behavior, among other things. "If you sit in the home office, you also cook more elaborately at lunchtime." You can also see that the weekly consumption of vegetables has increased - now that the canteen, cafeteria and school lunches have been eliminated in many cases. "If a family of four or five suddenly eats at home, that is reflected." Elsewhere, however, its operation is recording losses, so tours and other events are no longer necessary. As a result, sales have stagnated since Corona rather than growing as in previous years.
Not only farm shops, markets and vending machines offer the opportunity to buy regionally and directly from the farmer. It is noticeable that many new vegetable delivery services have been founded, says Andrea Gierden, who was commissioned by the state government as regional manager to network farmers and other "actors in the value chain" in the Freiburg region. Existing delivery services also experienced a significantly higher demand.
In addition to the reasons for the direct marketing boom already mentioned, she believes that the appreciation for locally produced food has increased.
"Corona has already shown how heavily dependent our supply is on global flows of goods."
Many people then realized how important it is that essential products such as food can actually be bought by the farmer next door.
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There are few figures on direct marketing in Baden-Württemberg. The Ministry for Rural Areas in Stuttgart announced that last year, 7.5 percent more households nationwide bought fresh food directly from the farm. Households have also spent 13 percent more money on fresh food than in 2019. Direct marketing has posted the greatest growth in the fresh produce sector - with online retail - but still leads a niche existence.
The ministry cannot say how many direct marketers have joined in 2020.
The latest figures are from 2016. At that time there were around 2890 farms in the south-west that also sold their products directly, which corresponded to a share of a good seven percent.
"In times of Corona, people eat more at home and are more concerned about the origin of their food," explains Agriculture Minister Peter Hauk (CDU).
He hopes that this appreciation for the farmers will continue after the pandemic.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210425-99-342740 / 2