How Beni makes broccoli better

Beni Dürr's Tesla runs on solar power. "I have to make the most of this sunshine," he says with a wink. The large yard in front of his farm in Haag, canton of St. Gallen, is filled with thousands of small seedlings. They are planted in the surrounding fields from early March onwards. The first broccoli is harvested at the end of May. Over the course of the year, Dürr and his suppliers plant four million seedlings, which his company Verdunova then processes into 1000 tonnes of frozen broccoli.

Just 30 years ago, frozen broccoli, cauliflower and romanesco were still being imported from abroad. Dürr was the first person to grow these three floret types in Switzerland and process them into frozen vegetables. He doesn't do things by halves. At the age of just 23, he took over his father's livestock farm and its 20 dairy cows. In 1991, he built a modern enclosure for them. Five years later, he sold his entire herd and set up a vegetable processing plant in the former barn. "From a commercial perspective, I saw greater potential in vegetables," Dürr explains. He was also fascinated by nature. A white cabbage seed weighs just 0.03 grams, yet within 100 days it becomes a million times heavier. "It makes you feel humble," he says.

Improvisation and entrepreneurial spirit

The Rhine Valley farmer is a Dixieland fan. In his spare time, he loves to play the saxophone. Just like a jazz artist, he also sometimes improvises in his business undertakings. Although he had a business plan, he readily admits: "I was a bit naïve in my approach." He didn't get his first major order from Migros because the hygiene conditions in his self-built vegetable plant - right next to a horse stable - were not quite up to standard. But Dürr refused to give up, outsourced his production and continued refining his approach.

In so doing, he developed a deep-freezing process in which vegetables aren't cooked in water and quenched with ice water – the traditional method – but instead heated using steam and then air-cooled. This reduced his water consumption by 90%, while ensuring that the vegetables retained their vitamins, colour and flavour.

A plan for broccoli

Five years ago, Beni Dürr was approached by Migros. It quickly became his biggest buyer. The aim was to put broccoli-growing on an even more sustainable footing. Dürr is renowned for his willingness to try out many different ways to make farming more sustainable. Even as a young boy, he wanted to keep the environment clean. As part of a game, he fished entire bicycles and once even a Second World War helmet out of a stream.

Together with Migros, Dürr tested 30 different varieties of broccoli to determine which could best cope in the sandy soils of the St. Gallen Rhine Valley with minimal use of pesticide. The tests showed that by selecting the right variety, fungicide spraying can be cut by over 70% without any loss of yield.

Dürr has also developed a plethora of tricks to reduce the use of pesticides even further. He uses a method called band spraying, for example, where only the rows of plants are sprayed during planting, rather than the entire field. This reduces the amount of weed control agents needed by 70-80%. Another trick is fertilising seedlings with lime, which strengthens the roots and gives them an advantage over weeds. As a result, frozen broccoli is now more eco-friendly and farmers save money too because less pesticide is required.

Beni Dürr is now already busy researching a new idea. He has discovered a fungus that could be used in the soil as a beneficial organism because it promotes root growth and makes young broccoli plants more robust. Given that he's 67, Dürr has technically retired. He has already handed over his company, Verdunova, to Rosina, the second-youngest of his four daughters. This gives him more time for his other passion – music. As president of the Werdenberg Castle Festival, he's organising a Verdi opera in August. "I spent 40 years looking after people's physical well-being when I was a farmer. Now I'm looking after their mental well-being."