There was a report in the Belgian media on Wednesday August 21st that there was hardly a good box of strawberries to be found on the shelves. According to the director of Cooperation Hoogstraten, Gaston Opdekamp, this is complete nonsense. "Compared to last year the supply is even double, this is because we had an unprecedented dip this time last year."
"We had a lot more peak periods on recent months as a result of the weather conditions, which is noticeable over the course of the season. This creates a jojo effect in production. Yet we can still speak of a normal to above average supply. We are at a 800 to 850 tonne supply this week, which is not bad at all."
It's not only the supply that has been affected by the warm weather, the prices have also suffered. "We have had high peaks in the price formation, as a result of moved productions, but we also had period of weak price formation. The whole summer has been reasonably unstable. The low prices have started to pull up again and we expect the stable and more correct prices to return," continues Opdekamp.
Positive prospects
"When we look at the quality we can't deny that the strawberries suffered from the extreme weather conditions. But on the whole we got through the summer and at the moment we are satisfied with the quality. The prospects for the coming weeks are very positive. It should cool down this week and due to the higher temperature differences between night and day they quality is rising," according to Gaston. The greenhouse cultivation will get going in the second or third week of September, but if it remains good weather, the open ground cultivation could continue for a long while."
Gaston Opdekamp with a crate of kiwiberries
Start of kiwiberry season
As of last week the kiwi berry season at Cooperation Hoogstraten has kicked off again. "The weather left its traces in kiwi berries as well, despite this, however, we expect 140 to 150 tonnes this week. We can talk of quality from the first shipments, although there were fears it wouldn't be up to scratch. We have only been doing this for a week, but we believe we can offer a good quality product," says Gaston. "We are facing challenges again this year with the weather conditions and the climate. We will have to look for answers. They could be in adjusting cultivation techniques or varieties, but it's certainly something we will have to take into account over the coming years."
For more information:
Gaston Opdekamp
Coöperatie Hoogstraten 
Loenhoutseweg 59
Hoogstraten - Belgium
+32 3 3400233
[email protected]
www.hoogstraten.eu
