Due to low prices and unsuccessful cultivation due to drought, several Belgian cauliflower growers are forced to plow their own cauliflower.
Cauliflower growers in Belgium, on the one hand, have to face reduced demand from the processing industry. At the moment, harvest prices are only half the cost. Among other things, VRT and Vilt.be posts about it. According to the producers, there is a lot of financial bloodletting going on.
In addition to price formation, the effects of the drought on sensitive early cauliflower production are still in place. In Belgium, irrigation is prohibited in various areas of cultivation. The manufacturer explains in front of a VRT camera that it draws moisture from the coals if too little water gets into the cauliflower. As a result, they do not grow back and do not turn brown.
Reduction of cultivated areas in Belgium
Soaring growing costs and a disappointing market situation have seen Belgium’s vegetable area shrink to 28,600 ha last year. This is 20 percent less than last year, when a total of 35,800 hectares of vegetables were still grown.
Area data show that less beans, carrots and spinach were sown this year. It is expected that next year the area under cauliflower crops will also be significantly smaller.
