REPORT: Büngener Schuder — cabbage harvesting: Bright headsnow with Ultra-Flow. We’re not talking about the cabbage heads that are being harvested here, but about cousins Josef Büngener and Martin Schuder, who have cleverly pooled their combined brainpower.
Autumn in the Vilstal valley in Lower Bavaria and the grain maize is being combined, potatoes are being lifted and there is plenty of activity on the veg farms in the area. One of these belongs
to Martin Schuder, who farms around 190ha with his father. Of this area, 65ha is dedicated to cereals and maize plus there’s sugar beet (15ha), cucumbers (25ha), beetroot (20ha) and cabbage (55ha). During harvest they employ up to 100 seasonal workers on the farm, mainly for harvesting the cucumbers. “Back in 2020, we were also harvesting the cabbage by hand,” explains Martin. “But it became increasingly difficult to find seasonal labour.”
The cabbage goes for processing into tinned foods, which means mechanised harvesting is an option for the German farm. “We attended a demo where we inspected a production machine from a major maker, but the design, performance and price didn’t match up for me,” says Martin. “This is where cousin Josef Büngener comes into play.”
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