2023-08-11 14:50:45
When we ask him why he started growing melon, Frédéric Henry answers us “Why not ?”
“Of course, we were taken for crazy. But all the plants compatible with our climates, for which we must not overwater, or overwork, which are suitable, we will try them! We know that there is a demand customers for good melon, so if it’s also local, they sign with both hands. There’s never enough of it. We’re in a small-area farming model, we produce 70 varieties, the idea is not to make 300 but we want to meet the demands of our customers, as long as they are reasonable.”
And to deal with capricious weather, sometimes too dry or too wet seasons, the watchword is diversification.
“It’s a basic principle of permaculture: resilience. And to obtain resilience, we dilute the risk. Each year we know that for two or three vegetables, it will be difficult. Each year it will be two or three different vegetables . But overall we’ll have a good average. It’s a security.”
So as long as you diversify, why not the melon? Especially since this is a magnificent loss leader, analyzes Gaëlle Curvers, in charge of local products and short circuits at the GAL Meuse@Campagnes.
People like melon, and it brings customers back to the field, at a time when production is peaking. We take a melon, we take the opportunity to take some tomatoes, do our little shopping.
The melon, sold for 5 euros/kilo, is also a product with high added value, continues Gaëlle Curvers. It sells relatively more expensive than another. And once the soil is well prepared, it requires less manual labor than other fruits or vegetables.
However, production remains modest, 12 to 13 tonnes should be harvested this summer in the Fernelmont region.
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