Farmer Peter van der Heijden from Gemert has never taken the asparagus out of the ground so early in the year. He was pleasantly surprised when he saw the cups sticking out of the ground this week. In total he has already harvested 25 boxes full of asparagus. Due to the wet weather of recent months, he thought it would take a while. “It’s unique. I wasn’t ready for it yet,” he says, laughing.
“Look, they look beautiful,” says Peter proudly with a large asparagus in his hands. “It feels great, is nice and white and straight. Almost all of them are.”
That surprises the asparagus farmer. It has not been a good year. “We have had a lot of rain. There is a good chance that there is rust on the asparagus, because it takes longer for them to grow up. But they are beautiful.”
“I was shocked.”
The asparagus farmer was surprised last Monday by a large number of asparagus sticking out above the ground. Ready for harvest and it’s not even halfway through March yet. “When I raised the tarp here, I saw asparagus everywhere,” says the farmer, pointing to the ground in his field. “Bam! Asparagus here, asparagus there. I was shocked.”
Peter has been an asparagus farmer since 1986. This is the first time in his career that the asparagus can be cut so early. Normally they only emerge from the ground in mid-March. “This is early, very early. I wasn’t ready for it yet. We are still renovating the store and the seasonal workers weren’t there yet.”
So improvise quickly. The farmer went home and called a number of people: something had to be done. The vegetables were quickly removed from the ground. There are now 25 boxes full of asparagus in the refrigerator. But Peter cannot yet put it in the store. “The store is not ready yet, so we are going to take them to the auction to sell them there.”
“My Easter can’t go wrong anymore.”
Normally the asparagus farmer hopes to have asparagus around Easter. This year he even expected that that would not work. “We have had wet months. The ground temperature was also lower than this time last year. And Easter is early this year.”
Peter thinks not having asparagus at Easter is the worst thing that could happen to him. He is even happier that the vegetables are now ready. “I’m very happy,” says Peter with a big smile. “My Easter can’t go wrong anymore.”
But how is it possible that this year has been such a success? “I really have no idea,” he says, laughing. “We’re on a high ground here, so maybe that’s why the ground hasn’t been wet for so long. That’s to my advantage.”