2023-06-17 16:45:42
In French-speaking Switzerland, one in four tomatoes consumed comes from the canton of Geneva, which has the largest growers in the region. The Domaine des Mattines, in Perly, produces nearly 1,000 tons of it each year. The program Couleurs d’Été met its director Jeremy Blondin.
The Geneva market gardener has been cultivating this vegetable originating from South America for more than 20 years. “It’s a very technical crop. In greenhouses, we mainly grow vertical crops, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and peppers,” explains Jeremy Blondin.
To obtain sufficient quantities, the tomatoes are planted above ground. “We grow on substrate. It’s a bit like putting a plant in a pot on a balcony,” says Jeremy Blondin. “We are going to change the soil every year. The objective is to protect the plant. We get rid of the problems that the soil can bring, for example insects, fungi or diseases. It also allows us to recover water and work more efficiently”, develops the representative of the sixth generation of a family of market gardeners.
The Domaine des Mattines, in Perly, produces some 1000 tons of tomatoes per year. [RTS]
Technological culture
Greenhouse cultivation has the advantage of starting the season earlier and ending it later, according to Jeremy Blondin. “It allows us above all to manage the climate”, underlines the one who proclaims himself laughingly “market gardener 4.0”. Indeed, to manage climatic conditions, the company has modern technology. Cell phone programs allow you to control various parameters, such as knowing the temperature, for example.
Does this above-ground tomato taste the same as those in the ground? “That’s the question,” he says, smiling. “I always say that a plant does not eat soil. (…) It will feed on mineral salts diluted in water. There, we bring them everything we want. I even want to say that it will be better, because we have 100% control over what the plant will use to grow and, above all, the quantity of water. In the event of a storm, for example, we cannot do anything. While we we can bring the water that the plant needs”, he notes. The Domaine des Mattines produces about thirty varieties, another factor of variation in taste.
>> See the second excerpt from Jeremy Blondin’s interview:
Difficult context
The market gardener got into the tomato business after calculating supply and demand. “There was a need to make tomatoes. So we focused on this product,” says Jeremy Blondin.
>> See the third excerpt from Jeremy Blondin’s interview:
Economic conditions have been tight lately, due to higher prices, particularly for labor and fertilizers. The market gardener concedes: in his eyes, the future risks being “complicated”. This is why his company aims to improve its efficiency. “We are also working on communication, so that the consumer understands that the Swiss product is sustainable. We work a lot on ecology, efficiency and also on social issues. In Geneva, we have the highest salaries in the world. It is important to take everything into account when making your purchase”, pleads Jeremy Blondin.
Interview by Jessica Renaud
Web text: Antoine Michel
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