The domestic strawberry season is slowly coming to an end: "Due to the continuing high energy costs, we deliberately planted our greenhouse strawberries about 10 days earlier, which is why we will end the season in calendar week 45, similar to last year. Normally, we were always able to supply the markets with greenhouse strawberries until the end of November or even the beginning of December," Ralf Hensen, a strawberry grower in Swisttal, told us. The net revenue per plant was also relatively low this year.
Aerial view of the Hensen fruit farm
Overall, this year's yields were rather mixed, due mainly to severe hail and frost damage in the open field, Hensen continues. There was almost a total loss in the early crops, while the later crops suffered losses of up to 20-30 percent. In contrast, the rack-grown crops were abundant. "Although they took their time, they then came in double and triple figures in July and August. Fortunately, this enabled us to partially offset the losses in the open field. This has once again shown how important it is to operate several cultivation systems."
Insight into greenhouse cultivation
From a marketing point of view, the autumn strawberries were in good demand at relatively pleasingly high prices. In this respect, October was a strong sales month, Hensen confirms. "Due to the Oktoberfest celebrations and the chocolate-covered fruits, we were able to place the goods on the market without any problems. It should be mentioned that the firm and sometimes even larger rack goods were even more interesting as chocolate-covered fruits this year than the softer greenhouse strawberries." However, up to 95 percent of his income finds its way to the consumer via the nationwide food retailing sector.
Only remontant varieties are grown in rack cultivation, while the Opera variety is primarily cultivated in greenhouses. The rack cultivation harvest is also expected to be completed by the end of calendar week 45.
Labour costs require structural change in the German strawberry sector
The German strawberry sector is known to face multiple challenges, above all rising labor costs. Hensen: "If wages continue to rise and the shortage of personnel continues to grow, supply will have to be adjusted accordingly so that we can continue to charge adequate prices for our product in the future. This is already partly the case, with open-field cultivation noticeably declining for years. Personally, I expect that in two to three years we will be able to largely dispense with outdoor cultivation and only need outdoor produce to bridge the gap between the greenhouse and rack harvest from mid-May to mid-June. Meanwhile, we have already greatly expanded rack production in recent years and will continue to pursue this path."
Photo credit: Fruchthof Hensen
For more information:
Ralf and Irmgard Hensen
Fruchthof Hensen
Doktor-Josef-Ströder-Str. 25
53913 Swisttal
Tel: 02255 / 8219
[email protected]
www.fruchthof-hensen.de
www.facebook.com/emilerdbeere/