Conference pear harvesting began much earlier than usual at Bijl's Fruit. "We started on August 20 with 55 people. The harvest looks good: we have lots of nice, large pears," says Wim Bijl. "That's nice because large pears are in high demand in this market. The drought means plenty of smaller pears, thus ensuring a huge demand for the larger sizes."
It is currently hectic at this Dutch company. "It's two weeks of pulling out all the stops because you have to make up the year's earnings in that fortnight. It used to be something that would drive you bonkers but these days, you just put your head down and get on with it. The harvest started extremely early this year."
"The pears were in full bloom on April 10, then 140 days later, the fruit was fully grown and ready for picking. That has to be done quickly because you have 14 days to get them into the crate. Fortunately, the weather is playing along; last week, it was so hot that it was actually not doable. By now, it's nice," Wim explains.
He and his 55-strong team are at it every day, ensuring that all the pears trees are empty. "Forty-four people are harvesting; the rest do supply and removal. You have to make sure you're well-prepared. For example, the machines must be in tip-top shape before harvesting begins. A single hitch and everything stops, losing valuable time. That's our strength, although not everyone in the sector is equally well prepared."
After they are picked, the pears go into cold storage on the same day, to be cooled to 0°C within 12 hours. "We usually sell them from there, all year round. Last season we continued through July, but I doubt we'll make that this year. Many of the pears have hail damage, so we'll sell them earlier. You don't want to end up with second-class pears late in the season. Those won't sell because by then, everyone wants only top quality," Wim continues.
The stormy weather that swept through the Netherlands in late June severely affected the grower, who has about 25 hectares of Conference pears. "Unfortunately, we suffered a lot of hail damage, which doesn't make things any easier. We're already in a highly unusual market with constantly rising cost prices and difficult sales."
"We normally sent much of the fruit to Russia, but that's obviously difficult now. We can't get rid of it all in Western Europe; there are simply too many of these pears on the market. We sell everything through Service2Fruit, and it then goes to Poland, Italy, Scandinavia, but also a lot to France and Germany," says Bijl.
According to him, the new crop is, luckily, entering a clean market. "There were a lot of pears at one point, but the market emptied. That's a positive point because, otherwise, it remains a challenging trade. Nowadays, you have to give your best 100% of the time to deliver the perfect product; there's no room for mistakes anymore. The market's too difficult for that."
"With these nice-sized pears, I'm generally confident of a good season. It's going to work out well. With the smaller sizes, I'm afraid; it generally won't work out. In Spain and Italy, there are already plenty of small ones because of the weather; there's no more room for these. Then you have to try and stand out, something to which we'll always be fully committed," Wim concludes.
For more information:
Wim Bijl
Bijl's Fruit
10 Oosthoek
3265 LE, Piershil, NL
Tel: +31 (0) 186 691 466
Email: [email protected]
