Demand is currently emerging for strawberries. "We, like many colleagues, have focused a bit more on everbearers this year, but this seems to be somewhat stagnant in production at the moment. However, demand remains as high as ever, which means we are working with expensive prices for the time of year," Benoit Demedts of strawberry nursery Demedts - De Mey explained.
"Due to the dark spring, the productions seem to be a bit volatile," continues the grower from the Flemish town of Gits. "We are working with Karima and Furore in the through-bearers, but there are more limited volumes at the moment than was the case in other years. We are very satisfied with Karima, because the plants produce nice kilos. We started with that recently, so we'll definitely continue going forward. However, this year production is falling a bit at certain moments. Fortunately, we haven't planted everything together but spread it out a bit more, so we don't run out of volumes if one part has a bit less production at any given time."
"It wouldn't be a problem now either if demand was a bit lower, as it normally is around mid-August," Benoit continues. "Only everyone is in the mood for a strawberry, it seems because they fly over the counter. That sometimes makes it difficult to serve all customers. Of course, we prefer a bit more demand than supply rather than the other way around, but it makes it all a bit more difficult for us at the moment."
No autumn peak
Benoit speaks of a good summer at all for the 'summer kings'. "It has been a nice summer. Not too hot, which kept people from coming out, but just enough sunshine. It normally slows down a bit during the holidays, but we noticed that it was actually busier now throughout the holiday period than other years. Of course, you did see customers going on holiday, but those volumes were then absorbed by others. We did have our work cut out for us in the farm shop. That applies not only to strawberries, by the way, but to all soft fruit: raspberries, blueberries and blackberries."
Incidentally, he expects volumes to pick up somewhat in the coming weeks. "We now have Elsanta and it is starting to colour nicely, so we expect to be able to start with that from next week. We also have some everbearers in the cold greenhouses, so we should be able to pick some in the coming weeks. However, it will be different from other years. Many colleagues' preference for everbearers has caused the autumn peak to wane somewhat. Volumes are now spread out a lot more. Here and there people are still working with Elsanta, but it remains to be seen what it will do to prices."
However, the grower is happy with his new everbearers. "We will definitely continue with Karima. It's a variety that everyone is still trying out. What is the best way to handle it for the best return? However, we are very happy with it. The Furore is a sweet, but slightly smaller strawberry, so we will have to look at that. But the sizes of the Karima are also good. Moreover, it is nicely productive with a good flavour." Benoit supplies strawberries until the end of the year. Whether the demand will persist even then, he says, remains a case study. "Obviously. You never know. As long as the weather stays good, the demand will be there. Certainly in the farm shop, sales are very weather-dependent, but our regular customers among bakers and the trade will always continue to demand large volumes. This can fluctuate, but always remains stable."
Cherries, apricots, plums
Among other products, by the way, it has also been a fine summer, Benoit confirms. "Cherries, for example, have been super this year. Production has been better than last year and we see that more and more leaves and branches are coming on the trees, so we will grow to even more volumes next year. This year we already had a deficit, so that's good in this case, lol. That means the demand was definitely there and next year we want to supply even more customers with delicious cherries. Moreover, the apricots have gone away nicely. You can see that customers still need to become a bit familiar with that, but it's the same scenario as with the raspberries. With that, we are now in our second year and it already went much better than the first season. We foresee this in apricots as well. However, we were definitely satisfied with the production and from next year we will also have plums, which will allow us to provide year-round fruit to our customers."
For more information:
Benoit Demedts
Nursery Demedts - De Mey
Middenstraat 97z
8830 Gits, Belgium
Tel: +32 479 69 08 67
[email protected]
www.demedts-demey.be