Cucumbers are available on the free market for next to nothing at the moment. The prices have dropped to less than twenty cents. "It's a shame, but unfortunately not abnormal for this time of year," says Arie Middelburg of GreenMatch.
Area decrease
Despite this price dip Middelburg is not negative about the rest of the year. "At a Benelux level the area has decreased significantly and normally you notice a decrease like this in the prices on a seasonal basis," he says. "But nothing can be said with certainty. Look at the Russian boycot and other external factors. The effects of these kind of things are unpredictable."
High wire cultivation
Middelburg looks further than today's prices at his advice office. With the GreenMatch Vergelijking Systeem (GreenMatch Comparison System) Middelburg compared multiple year developments in graphics and tables. With this users gain insight into price formation, productions and yields. Middelburg advises companies in this too. He sees sector-wide possibilities for the high wire cultivation. "It offers possibilities to define yourself," he believes. "It's not like a high wire cucumbers is always better than a traditionally grown cucumbers. That also has to do with the grower themselves, the cultivation method and the nursery. You can see that traditional cultivations can have more quality difficulties when the end of the cultivation is coming into sight or when there is a period of little light. You can sometimes see it in the colour, length and shape. These kinds of conditions can be more easily obviated in high wire cultivation."
Photo: high wire varieties by Bayer Crop Science
The high wire cultivation has increased greatly in the Netherlands over the last few years, but isn't suitable for all cucumber growers. The greenhouse has to be high enough and a grower has to invest in the labour and the cultivation. The question is whether those investments can be made back. The higher production and better quality realised with the high wire cultivation, isn't always good enough to make up the investments. "The better quality also has to be appreciated more financially," clarifies Middelburg. And as it often is in the horticulture, this is difficult. "A good quality division should be in place for this."
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