The Belgian aubergine season has almost ended. According to grower Jurgen Franco of Topa from Jabbeke the prices collapsed in the middle of last week. "This is why we started to round up the season a week early. The price dipped below 50 cents yesterday. At the start of last week this was still around a Euro. But it was still good for quite a while."
Not unsatisfied
Looking back at the season he isn't unsatisfied. "The minimum price was slightly lower than last year, but we harvested some more kilos. It was good weather for a long time, so that was an advantage. Normally you have a lot of small ones at the end. This time the aubergines were a little bigger." He thinks the price of around 40 cents will be the lowest. "Most people have finished the season."
Planting in December
"As of next week the greenhouse will be tidied up and on the 17th of December we will be planting. The first harvest is due again around February." Jurgen expects a comparable area in the Netherlands and Belgium for next year. "I've heard that some are dropping out and someone is expanding, so there won't be much difference."
Six years ago Jurgen and Nancy Franco of Topa from Jabbeke started the year round cultivation of aubergines. Jurgen's father started the cultivation company in the 70's. Bjorn, Jurgen's brother, entered the trade side with the company Rutoma and Jurgen chose to take over the cultivation company. The area of aubergines is around 3.5 hectares. Topa has a WKK which produces both heat and electricity at the same time.