The amount of specialities has grown from 27 to 45 hectares
New everbearing Capri
"Veiling Hoogstraten has various new things up their sleeve for this season. They plan to implement a new sales system with e-mediation with the option of week mediation. A new strawberry box is also going to be introduced for the open ground strawberries. This year the new everbearing Capri will also be introduced. Veiling Hoogstraten recently hired an export manager for German speaking countries and hopes to further enter and work international markets."
31 million kilos of strawberries are expected this year
Season opening
For the first time this season Veiling Hoogstraten was to apply to supply strawberries all year round due to artificial lighting.But they also wanted to honour the tradition of a season opening and so the a box of strawberries was still auctioned off in support of charity. The box went to Delhaize for the price of 500 Euro per 500 grammes. Due to Veiling Hoogstraten's input, on the behalf of the strawberry growers, the yield was doubled. The amount of 8000 Euro was handed to Willem Geysen, CEO of Make a Wish, and organisation which makes the dreams of children fighting a life threatening illness come true (www.makeawish.be).
For the first time this season Veiling Hoogstraten was to apply to supply strawberries all year round due to artificial lighting.But they also wanted to honour the tradition of a season opening and so the a box of strawberries was still auctioned off in support of charity. The box went to Delhaize for the price of 500 Euro per 500 grammes. Due to Veiling Hoogstraten's input, on the behalf of the strawberry growers, the yield was doubled. The amount of 8000 Euro was handed to Willem Geysen, CEO of Make a Wish, and organisation which makes the dreams of children fighting a life threatening illness come true (www.makeawish.be).
Delhaize
The Delhaize fruit and vegetable Category Manager, Oene Jolie, indicated that he was very happy with this arrival of these strawberries. "We are pleased to be able to buy these strawberries and so signal the start of this Belgian strawberry season. We believe it is very important to carry Belgian products in our assortment. It's our hobby." He says that Hoogstraten is the main supplier of their strawberries. "As soon as the Belgian season starts we have Hoogstraten strawberries on our shelves. Due to the artificial lighting we carried this product until the beginning of February this winter. Our customers really appreciate this and despite the strawberries having higher prices than, for instance, the Spanish ones, they are convinced by the good taste and daily fresh quality."
Roger van Damme
Besides the charity sales, Roger van Damme, a well known Belgian chef, was introduced as the ambassador of Hoogstraten Aardbeien and was knighted by the Ghesellen van de Aardbei (Companions of the Strawberry). Roger is a fan of the strawberries and Hoogstraten and he indicated this in his speech. He also made delicious desserts out of them, which the visitors visible enjoyed.