The Greenery’s blueberry season has begun again. They’ll have these available, fresh from Dutch soil, until September. “The cold spring delayed the blueberries by two weeks,” explains Marco Meijer, a sales representative at The Greenery Growers.
“Most of these berries go to the larger retailers in the Netherlands. We’ve managed to conclude nice retail programs for our growers. The Greenery not only has the complete year-round fruit and vegetable on offer. It also has reliable, service-oriented fruit and vegetable services. That makes it an attractive soft fruit partner for retailers.”
Innovation
“Of course, we couldn’t do this without our dedicated farmers. They work day and night to deliver the best quality. They’re spread across the eastern part of the Netherlands,” continues Marco. “The growers work closely and actively with our soft fruit business unit’s sales team. They continually explore not only new sales market opportunities and variety development but appealing consumer concepts, new packaging and consumption moments, and promotions too.”
“For example, The Greenery is participating in a project with Wageningen University & Research. That’s under the “Fresh on Demand” umbrella. It concerns non-destructive methods for detecting, say, soft, mealy berries. That’s so that, in the future, we can determine quality more easily and quickly. We also want to provide more guidance in this regard,” Marco concludes.
Zachtfruit Schalkwijk partnership
The Greenery controls the blueberries’ sorting, packaging, and logistics. That’s so they can work as efficiently as possible. Growers can, therefore, make the most of the cooperative’s size and not have to worry about logistics. The Greenery’s has a packing station at Zachtfruit Schalkwijk.
There they prepare blueberries for retailers throughout the year. Zachtfruit Schalkwijk meets the strictest quality control and food safety requirements. “This year, we’re in an extra good position. We have a new sorting machine for blueberries”, says Anton van Garderen of Zachtfruit Schalkwijk.
F.l.t.r: Roel Koops, Roelof IJken, and Renco Bussemaker of the Coöperatieve Blauwe Bes Drenthe.
Blueberries becoming more popular
More and more consumers are discovering blueberries. It’s one of the fruit aisle’s fastest growers. The number of households that occasionally eat blueberries per year has increased. It rose from three to 47.6%. That’s according to market research institute, GFK’s, consumer data for 2019-2020.
Compared to other fruit in general, blueberries are more popular among two-person households. Interestingly, where people eat other fruits mainly as snacks, they mostly eat blueberries with breakfast. So there are, certainly, growth opportunities for this great product. That’s for consumption at other times of the day, says The Greenery’s representative.
For more information:
Marco Meijer
The Greenery Growers
Tel: +31 (0) 640 438 997
Email: M.Meijer@thegreenery.com