Coöperatie Hoogstraten lies just over the Dutch border in Belgium. When it comes to bell peppers, though, that short distance makes a world of difference. The acreage in the Netherlands is the largest by far for these two countries, but bell peppers fetch higher prices at Hoogstraten. The company highlights that they have recently seen an increase in demand for this product, while some growers have stopped cultivating it. That means the folks at Hoogstraten need additional supply, for which they are first looking toward Belgium's northern neighbors, a region where many growers are not affiliated with a cooperative.
"We have a compelling story, one we haven't shared often enough in recent years," begins Marcel Biemans, Coöperatie Hoogstraten's Grower Development Manager. You can safely leave it to the Dutch people within the cooperative to make a bit more noise, he adds with a wink. "We want to promote the idea of 'be good and tell it' more actively. We've been somewhat too modest regarding grower acquisition."
With a clear view of the future, Hoogstraten chose, a few years ago, to focus more on strawberries, tomatoes, and bell peppers. This cooperative has always been strong in strawberries and has a solid position in tomatoes, with several strong growers on board. Bell peppers have recently proven more difficult. "We had some growers who cultivated these but stopped. The acreage has, thus, decreased while demand keeps rising," says Marcel. Most of their bell peppers go to Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom. "Those are our most important markets."
Centralized sorting
That stoppage means supply and demand are not entirely balanced, regarding the different colors, too. "We grow the most green bell peppers," Marcel explains. With a new Dutch grower's arrival, more red peppers were added this year. "We partnered with Oxin Growers for that. This grower will now sell some of his red peppers to us. It's a win-win for both parties. We're open to such collaborations and want to expand with growers outside the Netherlands, too, though our main focus is on our northern neighbors."
Coöperatie Hoogstraten currently has about 100 hectares under bell peppers. "Our greenhouse vegetable sales manager, Bart van Bael, however, says there's room for at least 200 hectares, given the high demand," Marcel continues. Presently, two-thirds of the cooperative's bell peppers come from Dutch growers, the rest from Belgian growers.
The company offers centralized sorting. Both large and small growers use this service for all or part of their acreage. Marcel mentions, as an example, a couple of growers who switched to bell peppers from tomato cultivation in recent years. "For those tomato growers (3.5 and 9 ha), switching to a different crop was already a big deal. We could help by doing their sorting. Our sorting system is flexible, so we can fulfill customer requests and quickly switch to specific packaging. Lately, we've seen that it also benefits our prices. Also, our growers don't have to purchase too many different types of packaging themselves."
Similarities to strawberries
Other Hoogstraten products often go to Germany too; less so, their bell peppers. "Other parties with more acreage sell more volume on the German market. Our bell peppers also go there, but it's certainly not our top sales market," says Biemans. Unlike sellers in the Netherlands, Belgian sellers sort and market the bell peppers by size, not weight, he explains. "We serve specific markets and focus less on traffic light packs. We also sell more loose bell peppers."
A particular strength of this cooperative's bell pepper marketing tale resembles that of strawberries, where Hoogstraten is most well-known. "In our conversations with Dutch growers, we learn we're not yet that well known in the bell pepper sector, nor is our working method," Marcel points out. To change that, the cooperative invites growers to a special bell pepper day on May 3.
It also actively wants to talk to individual growers. "Just as with strawberries, the auction clock plays a central role. With bell peppers, too, most of the volume is sold via auction. We base our pricing on that. They did benchmarking last year, and our prices look good. Our bell pepper prices were significantly higher than those of Dutch trading companies. With our auction strategy, we get better market prices."
Coöperatie Hoogstraten has specialized snack pepper growers, too. However, those are deliberately kept separate from the bell peppers. The growers supplying snack peppers flexibly scale their production to meet market demand. "That snack segment is growing, as are snack tomatoes and cucumbers." The company is not (yet) focusing on pointed peppers or organic cultivation. "We can supply organic products and are certified, but our current focus is on conventional cultivation," Marcel admits.
Lower costs, higher prices
Bell pepper growers have recently faced several challenges regarding cultivation methods, and Hoogstraten Cooperative helps deal with those as best they can. Here, the close cooperation with the Hoogstraten Research Center (which announced its merger with the Vegetable Research Center on January 1, 2026, ed.) is very useful. "The research focuses on practical solutions that genuinely help growers move forward."
A good example of this collaboration is the introduction of UV-C robots, albeit in strawberry cultivation. "Growers were having issues with mildew. Together with them and the Proefcentrum, we invested in research. Today, our growers use more than 30 of these robots," Marcel continues.
This investment in robotics was partly thanks to a GMO/SIG&F subsidy. Here, too, Marcel notes a difference between the Netherlands and Belgium. "This regulation has a slightly different impact. In the Netherlands, the focus is more on investments. In Belgium, we also focus on cost reduction for the grower. That allows us to ensure growers can deliver cost-neutrally or even negatively from a certain level of sales. Lower costs and higher payout prices mean we can realize nice gains for our growers," Marcel concludes.
This article was previously published in Primeur May 2025. Click here for the link to the entire edition
For more information:
Marcel Biemans
Coöperatie Hoogstraten
Loenhoutseweg 59
2320 Hoogstraten, België
Tel.: +32 33 40 02 11
[email protected]
www.hoogstraten.eu