After the first hot days in May, our GreenTEAM opened the season with a first planting day of sweet potato seedlings for our partner Batati in Sutz-Lattrigen (BE).
Unlike regular potatoes, sweet potatoes are not planted as tubers, but as young plants. The planting machine, a special design from the Italian car manufacturer Ferrari Costruzioni Meccaniche, is located at the rear of the tractor. There, the sweet potato seedlings are filled into the drums and mechanically planted. If there are gaps, the seedlings must be replanted manually.
The sweet potatoes of the brand Batati are produced by various Swiss farmers. An important requirement is that they are all planted, tended and harvested in cooperation with a social institution. This is where we come in: In the canton of Solothurn, Bern and Fribourg, the various producers are supported in their work by our specialist group GreenTEAM. With these activities, our participants prepare themselves for a follow-up solution in the primary labor market.
