NATIVALAND
NativaLand, created in 2016, aims to support farmers across Europe and beyond in increasing the productivity, quality and diversity of their sweetpotato crops. It has 16 permanent employees and at the time of the campaign — April, May and early June — it exceeds 260 workers. “We always have 20 to 30 people working”, says Fernando Costa, general manager of Nativaland. “Every year we make a nursery area, in 12 ha. Our sweet potato farm has around 40 ha and we are doing some internal rotation — corn pivot and ornamentals; bulb flowers. We also have 2 ha in organic mode”, adds Fernando Costa. At NativaLand, the Bellevue, Orleans, Evangeline and Beauregard varieties represent 95% of the plantations. The rate, as a general rule, for industry is 35,000 plants per ha and for the fresh market it varies between 45 and 55,000 plants per ha. Of NativaLand's production, 85% of the sweet potato plant is exported, mainly to Belgium, Holland, Germany and France, but also to Hungary, Greece, Romania and Spain. NativaLand has had the irrigation system from Magos Irrigation Systems since 2021. And Fernando Costa says that “it went well. All in accordance with the specifications. Things were done in good time and the changes proposed by us were well implemented. the work was done in a professional and timely manner”.
