In 2020, Dutch strawberries were in high demand. A record 78,000 tons of strawberries were grown in the Netherlands that year. This is almost double the production of 2010. Strangely, exports of Dutch strawberries hardly increased in the past years.
Wilco van den Berg, market specialist at trade association GroentenFruit Huis, told Dutch the broadcaster NOS: “That means that we mainly eat the extra strawberries ourselves. In the past three years alone, consumption in the Netherlands has increased by a third, to 45 million kilos.”
Due to the increasing use of greenhouses and plastic tunnels, the Dutch strawberry season is stretching longer and longer. Strawberries used to be in supermarkets mainly in the months of June, July and August. Now they can be bought as early as April and May, and well into the autumn.
It seems 2021 will not be another record year for strawberries. “That’s because of the spring, which was cold and dark for a long time. You can’t take back those weeks that you miss in the open ground at the beginning of strawberry season. Nature doesn’t work that way,” Van den Berg stated.
Source: https://nltimes.nl