🎬 Start of the Nadorcott mandarin season in Morocco
While winter still prevails in Western Europe and the trees remain bare, sun-kissed Nadorcott mandarins are now making their way to us from Morocco. Read More
Start of the ginger & turmeric season in Costa Rica
The first container of the year is now on its way from Costa Rica to Europa – filled with fresh organic ginger and turmeric. The beginning of the season coincides with the start of the new year 2021 and promises to be very exciting. Read More
Coronavirus news in November
The coronavirus crisis is omnipresent, in the media, in society as a whole. In all locations, including in our offices, in the fields and in the packing stations, we have adapted our procedures to comply with the requirements and restructured them where necessary. So how are things looking at the moment? Read More
Coronavirus support provided for Costa Rica
We want to provide our workforce and smallholders with the best possible support, even in difficult times. We therefore applied for financial assistance from DEG Bank, in order to be able to take faster, and above all far-reaching, local action. Read More
Start of the mango season in Senegal
It's that time again: peak season in Senegal in the fields and in the packing depot. The ripe mangos are being harvested continuously and prepared for transportation to Duisburg. Read More
85,000 bananas from Milagros for the Bio Brotbox campaign
For this year’s Bio Brotbox campaign, BioTropic donated around 85,000 bananas from Milagros in the Dominican Republic in total. Read More
“SmartFresh”: when your apple is one year old…
The apples on the supermarket shelves are at their crispest, and are one thing above all: naturally fresh. But even months later some apples look as good as new. How is that possible? Read More
Organic apples from overseas – environmentally friendly?
Why an organic apple from overseas is preferable to a conventional apple. Read More
High-tech mango ripening & sorting facilities at BioTropic
Finally we are ready: Our four mango ripening chambers and our new mango sorting machine are installed at BioTropic’s main site in Duisburg! Read More
Organic farmer Hubert Bois and BioTropic from Duisburg have taken over the 22-hectare farm of Manfred Schöneck in Meckenheim. The agricultural operations will be turned into a Demeter-standard organic farm over the next few years. "BioTropic is primarily an importer of organic fruit and vegetables from abroad", explains operations manager Sascha Suler: "In purchasing this farm in Meckenheim, we now want to focus more strongly on regional products in order to meet rising demand for organic-quality fruit."
Our latest development aid project is currently under way in Costa Rica. Around 75 small-scale farmers from Alajuela Province in the north of the country will be learning how organic farming works. The aim is to help them achieve success on the international market with organic products. Humans and nature should benefit equally from the project.
"We hope to qualify these small-scale farmers so that they can produce exportable organic products sustainably and in sufficient quantities", says Sascha Suler, operations manager of BioTropic in Duisburg. To date, there are only a few farmers in Costa Rica who operate according to organic guidelines. Giant monopoly plantations with conventionally grown bananas and pineapples dominate most of the cultivatable land. They mostly belong to large international fruit conglomerates. Small-scale farmers are shut out and have almost no chance to gain a foothold on the international market.
February is all about Fruit Logistica. Berlin was once again the hub for around 78,000 of the trade fair visitors from the fruit and vegetable sector. We were there, of course.
The Operations Manager of BioTropic Duisburg, Sascha Suler, visited our agricultural projects in Costa Rica and in the Dominican Republic in December to get an idea of the conditions on site.
We again followed the origin of our Italian fruit and vegetables and took a few organic store owners with us on our trip, while employees of organic wholesaler Rinklin were also there. Our journey led us into the regions of Apulia and Calabria, two areas at the country’s “boot heel”. The favourable climate of the Mediterranean region provides for a long agricultural tradition in the area, as in winter the temperatures generally remain above freezing.
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