"The whole Dutch bell pepper season was good, price, and quality-wise"

The season is over for most of Harvest House's bell pepper growers. "It was an extraordinary one that started later than we've become accustomed to in recent years. That was because of the higher energy cost with many growers, thus deciding to cultivate differently. For example, some growers started planting a lot later. Others didn't use some of the available bell pepper growing space at all. As a result, the Dutch bell pepper supply got off to a slow start," says Harvest House bell pepper sales representative Marco Bergman.

Marco Bergman. Photo: Harvest House

"In Spain, bell peppers had a difficult growth phase in early 2023, causing commercial demand for Dutch bell peppers to develop quite quickly. An early greater demand from European retailers combined with our smaller supply ensured good prices early in our season. Prices were satisfactory for the rest of the season, though they dipped slightly in the summer during the European-wide school vacations. But the Dutch bell pepper season's tail end was excellent."

Photo: Harvest House

"We had a generally lovely year on the bell pepper market," Marco admits. "We're also definitely satisfied with the quality of our bell peppers. There are always cultivation challenges and minor problems, but our bell pepper growers experienced no major quality issues. We hope we can continue in much the same way next year. There are, obviously, challenges."

"Like light cultivation costs and the ever-shrinking availability of crop protection products. We're very curious to see how that will play out. Before that happens, our growers and we are working hard to ensure the crop changeover goes well. After that, we can start preparing for the start of the 2024 Dutch bell pepper season," Marco concludes.