At Sil Moonen from Roggel, the Dutch blueberry season started last Monday. "It won't be the best year, but not the worst either. In flowering, we have had some weaker weather, so pollination has not been optimal. Overall, we expect some thinner berries."
Although the grower has a harvesting machine at his disposal, the first picking is still done manually. "The first picking usually gives the best berries, so we save those for when the harvest is over. We start harvesting by machine at the end of July," Sil says. Previously, he also grew blueberries in Germany and the northern Netherlands, but he got rid of those farms earlier, so now his entire 40-hectare acreage is located in the municipality of Leudal, good for some 400,000 kilos of blueberries a year.
"Last week, blueberry prices were quite nice, and it seemed that the Dutch supermarkets were eager to start with Dutch product, but this week it already hopeless again. Incidentally, you often see that prices go down when the school holidays start. When the holidays are over again, the price often goes up quite quickly. However, the rule in the Netherlands is that you actually have to finish harvesting by mid-August before Peru comes on the market. You can then still serve your customers until mid-September from the cooler."
A long-cherished wish of Sil is to put blueberries into the final packaging straight from the bush. "That is the shortest track to the consumer, and it also benefits the grower. But somehow with other soft fruits, we can't do that and have to treat blueberries like a potato. But because of this, there are huge handling costs involved, which makes me fear at times that we are going after pickle cultivation."
Moonen has also planted berries of the Calypso variety in addition to the Duke variety this year. "In blueberries, we see a lot of variety development. Every year, new varieties are added and varieties are dropped. We now have a Fall Creek variety in the trial that we can pick in one go. I think there is a future in that. Otherwise, the costs get too high and the prices don't rise accordingly."
Shelf space
"I wonder which retailer would dare to introduce a different concept. Ten years ago, I was already pioneering shakers, but no retailer took the plunge. Often they have half a square metre of shelf space and there is little room for innovations, but given the growth the blueberry category has experienced, it could be looked at more flexibly."
Whereas Sil previously anticipated retailers in the UK and Germany, they are currently drawing heavily from the local harvest. "We do export more to southern countries like Spain and Italy in recent years. Those have no local production in July and August, while consumption in the countries is rising, so we have nice customers there. But we also hope that Dutch retailers will still come forward for the local product."
For more information:
Sil Moonen
Berryfarm.nl
Mortar 27
6088 AH Roggel
T: 0475-494727
M: 06 532 88 523
[email protected]