The season of the Gräfin Gepa, or the Early Desire pear, ended with good numbers in mid-January at the club's annual meeting. “It has once again turned out to be a successful season for the Early Desire growers,” says Ad Verbeek of Verbeek Nurseries.
“The Gepa is a fertile variety, which means that the growers have harvested good volumes. In addition, the payout prices are also adequate. The average net payout price over all harvested kilos, after deduction of all costs (cooling, sorting and royalty payments) was between € 0.65 and € 0.78 per kilo. Last season, the average payout price was € 0.73 per kilo for all kilos harvested. In short, a very good price. ”
The parties involved are also very satisfied with the sales. Verbeek grows the trees and Frupaks-Vernooij markets the pears. “The last pears were sold in mid-January. A week ahead of schedule,” explains Ad. “The Early Desire is sold in many European countries, but also beyond. In Germany, pears are particularly popular with retail channels. Germany is a pear country and red pears in particular are doing extremely well on this market. Due to the high demand, we will expand the acreage in the coming years. Next season, another 30 hectares will be planted in the Netherlands and Belgium and we will continue to expand the acreage over the coming years. ”
“It is striking that in 2020 less class 1 pears were picked than normal. This is due to the sunny and warm weather in August. This has resulted in slightly more class 2 pears being picked than usual this season. Despite the higher number of green pears, 81% of class 1 pears were still picked. We are also very positive about the size of the Early Desire. Only 10% of the pears were below size 65. That is a favorable fact for the trade, because pears above size 65 have much more sales opportunities in the retail channel,” Ad concludes.
For more information:
Ad Verbeek
Verbeek Boomkwekerijen 
Kruislandsedijk 13
4651 RH Steenbergen
+31(0)167 566924
[email protected]
www.verbeek.nu