2023-08-25 18:30:00
Mélody Kessler, you, your husband Ludovic Peter and your partner David Feller, why did you decide to diversify to such an extent by creating this gigantic tomato greenhouse with an area of one hectare at the heart of your farm?
We wanted to offer quality products while respecting the environment. We surrounded ourselves with university researchers but also methanizers and other project leaders. We were a playground for these scientists. We said to ourselves with a waste, the heat of the biogas, how can I transform it into a product? Our priorities were to put the circular economy at the service of more sustainable agriculture.
And how did you actually do it? How is your greenhouse self-sufficient?
We have therefore decided to use the digestate from our biomethanation station as a substrate for our tomatoes, the plants at the end of their life are also recycled in the tanks and transformed again into biogas. We collected all the rainwater in a storm basin of some 3,500 m3 to be self-sufficient in water. With our biogas unit, therefore, all the necessary ingredients for greenhouse cultivation are combined: heat, electricity, organic matter for the substrate as well as CO2 which promotes plant photosynthesis.
And why the choice of tomato and not another vegetable?
On the strength of this circular economy and having at heart to produce healthy food for a wide audience, we have embarked on the production of tomatoes which, it should be known, is the first vegetable consumed at home.
And at the heart of the greenhouse, how is your project innovative?
There we are working on crop gutters which allows us to collect the water that has not been absorbed by the tomato plants and the nutrients included in the water. What is innovative is that we use organic matter as a growing medium to replace the rock wool traditionally used in this type of greenhouse. Greenhouse cultivation allows us to avoid the tomato’s No. 1 enemy: mildew. It allows us to prevent any disease and thus avoid the use of pesticides.
You are at the start of your tomato production. Do you already occupy the whole surface of one ha of the greenhouse? What kinds of tomatoes do you grow? Is your production spread over the 12 months of the year?
We produce traditional tomatoes in clusters and that the 12 months of the year on all the surface of the greenhouse. Our current production is around 1.3 tons of tomatoes every day. When we have reached our cruising speed, we hope to reach 2 tonnes per day.
How do you market your production?
Our production is marketed and distributed via La Provençale as part of their support program for producers in the region under the label “Les tomatoes de Faascht – Vallée de l’Attert”
The Kessler-Peter and Feller families, during the inauguration of their gigantic tomato greenhouse. ©ÉdA – 70102416314
Has your project created new jobs?
Yes, we are now 19 in the company. As we produce tomatoes all year round, we have all hired full-time locals. Ten people work in the greenhouse under the leadership of our crop manager, agronomist Benjamin Daigneux, and nine others in biomethanation.
Three ministers to inaugurate the largest tomato greenhouse in Wallonia
Visit of the new biomethenation facilities with commentary by Ludovic Peter, Mélody Kessler and David Feller ©EdA
It was almost the slightly anticipated official political return of the Walloon Parliament, this Friday in the green valley of Attert. Three Walloon ministers out of 7 were present to inaugurate the greenhouse of the Faascht farm in Grendel! Great excitement in this peaceful little village.
Willy Borsus, Walloon Minister for Agriculture and the Economy, Celine Tellier, Walloon Minister for the Environment, and Philippe Henry, Minister for Climate and Energy made the trip to the town of Attert.
In the presence of nearly 200 guests, the symbolic ribbon cutting took place in the heart of the tomato greenhouse which covers an area of one hectare, most certainly the largest in Wallonia. The guests had the right to visit the facilities of the new greenhouse but also the biomethanation elements. Twenty-five years ago, the Kessler family were pioneers in this field. This was followed by presentations by Mr. Alain Delvigne on vegetable production in Wallonia, by Dr. Philippe Delfosse on circular agriculture, the path towards sustainable agriculture and by Benjamin Daigneux, the cultivation manager of the greenhouse attertoise, on the management of an above-ground greenhouse using integrated pest management.
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