How old is the farm ?

I am the 4th generation of producers on the current farm, which represents about 230 hectares. The farm only produced cereal crops originally. Then my father Jean-Claude and my mother Catherine decided to diversify with a production of sweet corn, fruit, vegetables, baby leaf salads and edible flowers spread over about twenty hectares, with fourteen for sweet corn. In the 1970s, my father went to the USA at the request of the French Ministry of Agriculture to find out about growing sweet corn. Similarly, many years ago, he was also the first to produce baby vegetables and other crops like broccoli and bok choy. When I came back to France in 2010, I wanted to take over the market garden business with my husband Julio, who was also at university in the USA.

What do you produce ?

The flagship products of our production are sweet corn, edible flowers representing about thirty varieties (nasturtium, wild pansy, purple pansy, marigold, chrysanthemum, borage, etc.) which are highly sought after in gastronomy. Edible flowers turn gastronomy into a bouquet of flavours. There are not many of us producing them in France. We also have baby leaf salads (purslane, mixed greens, rocket, mizuna, mustard, ice plant, spinach, cordifole, etc.), representing a good fifteen varieties. These are niche products, primarily sought after by a clientele of top-of-the-line restaurants for the most part. Our production is subject to important rotations, for example, nasturtium has three or four rotations per year, like borage. The same is true for the baby leaf salads. We work outdoors, under tunnel or under glass too, which means we can have year-round production. We also have other productions like round zucchini, rhubarb, etc. We work on the principle of reasoned agriculture and integrated pest control, particularly for the edible flowers which are subject to attacks by greenfly and spiders.

So we have banned any pesticide treatment on our plantations. The problem for our business is in the difference between the commercial market dynamic and the production dynamic, which are not the same. For example, if the market is not active, we end up with losses. So we always have to guarantee the outlets. There is always a discrepancy between the time to sell and the time to sow. Similarly, we are always trying to diversity our production and we are the only ones, for example, to produce nettles (heads). We also look for new niche markets like baby ferns. Actually we have noticed a real demand for all these relatively specific products that are relatively new to gastronomy.

What do you think of Rungis Market ?

We deliver a good fifteen Rungis operators twice a week where we sell almost 90% of our production. This essential, efficient tool is run by top quality professionals who are devoted to their trade. My father was already delivering to Rungis when the Market first opened.