“For small greenhouse vegetable growers, soft fruit is interesting alternative”

The Dutch greenhouse vegetable season got underway again a short while ago for Best of Four. Although the association supplies a broad range of fruit, greenhouse and outdoor vegetables, the greenhouse vegetables still make up the largest share of sales. Manager Ton van Dalen sees an increasing demand from buyers for year-round suppliers. “Especially after last winter, with the shortages from Spain, that demand is increasing considerably. That’s why we are seriously going to look into expanding illuminated cultivation with our growers.”

“In the complete Dutch greenhouse vegetable cultivation, a number of significant expansions can be seen for large growers. That’s not the case for us, although we’ve had some minor expansions,” Ton says. Another development is that some of Best of Four’s greenhouse vegetable growers have switched to the cultivation of soft fruit under glass this year. “We are talking about 10 hectares of strawberries and 4 hectares of blackberries. I think this is a logical result when looking at the development of large greenhouse products. For growers with a glasshouse of 2 or 3 hectares, soft fruit often makes more sense than tomatoes or bell peppers.”

“The tomato season started well this year because of the disappointing Spanish season. The illuminated growers will look back on that with satisfaction. The non-illuminated season also started with good prices,” Ton describes the start of the season. “On the other hand, the market for aubergines has been disappointing since the start, and there’s no improvement yet. A combination of Spanish and Dutch aubergines that lasted too long on the market results in a difficult market situation.”

“Cucumbers started well, but are now in a slump. Last week, we had a significant overlap with Spain, and the Netherlands are now in full production. This results in prices around 20 cent for 35ers and 25 cent for 40ers, and that’s just not enough for the time of year,” Ton continues. “The setting for Dutch bell peppers went completely differently. That is now resulting in slightly lower supply and prices that are increasing. However, that will probably stabilise in coming weeks. Because of the changing supply, I expect bell pepper prices might start fluctuating considerably.”

The manager is feeling hopeful about the bell pepper export to China that will start this year, but wants to temper expectations that might be too high. “It’s wonderful that we can sell our product in China, but it’s still too early to start selling a serious volume. This year we’ll have to see how Dutch product is received, and hopefully we’ll be able to scale-up volumes in the coming year.” He’s not very worried about the consequences of Brexit. “British consumers will have to continue eating. The consequences for our trade mostly depend on the value of the British pound. After the Brexit vote, that slumped, but by now it has recovered quite well. Although possible border formalities could cause additional limitations.”

For more information:
Ton van Dalen
Best of Four
Ziedewij 5
2991 LA Barendrecht
T +31 (0)180 820 084
ton@bestoffour.nl
www.bestoffour.nl