The saying that it's only a disaster when no disaster happens certainly rings true for field vegetables this year. "Conditions have been perfect for us, but also across Europe, leading to high yields. In other years, there's always at least one plot with problems, but this year everything turned out well. An incredible amount of product is being harvested, but prices are under serious pressure," says Peer Schraven of field vegetable grower Compliment in Volkel, Brabant.
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Harvesting iceberg lettuce
"It's a completely different growing season compared to last year. For example, we sprayed more in March and April alone than we did all of last year," Peer continues. "The season started early. We harvested the first iceberg lettuce as early as 3 May. At that time, Spain was still very active in the market, so prices immediately dropped to an all-time low, and since then, trading has remained difficult. Huge volumes are being moved, and the quality is incredibly high, only the prices are still mediocre. That's concerning because despite skyrocketing costs, free-market prices are falling through the floor."
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"For Chinese cabbage, we've seen a price recovery after the heatwave two weeks ago. Celery is mainly sold through retail for us, resulting in steady sales." He remains optimistic about a market recovery. "So far, all crops have grown faster, we're now in the shortest growing cycles, and everyone has been able to meet customer demand without issue. But there will come a time when growing patterns diverge, creating gaps in supply."
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Cultivation
With the impending ban on various crop protection products, Compliment has been actively searching for green alternatives. "In iceberg lettuce, for instance, we conducted several trials using only green products for protection, but the lettuce ended up infested with pests. The aphid trial across 16 plots also produced no results. Among other things, we explored using a spot sprayer to apply pesticides more precisely, reducing overall chemical use by targeting only the plant. So we're trying all sorts of approaches, but no one has found the silver bullet yet."
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It's a major concern for the grower. "Looking ahead, it's really unclear how we're supposed to continue growing our vegetables. After all, people still need to eat. But so far, we haven't seen any willingness from the government to help find a solution, and supermarkets also don't seem to recognise the urgency of the situation!"
For more information:
Peer Schraven
Compliment BV
Zeelandsedijk 1
5408 SL Volkel
Tel: +31 (0) 6 22 08 56 60
[email protected]
www.complimentbv.nl
