"I feel like the differences between the sizes and their prices are becoming bigger and bigger," says courgette grower Theo van der Elst. "The courgettes are beautiful, but the prices less so. The prices are only 'good' for the sorting in which 14 courgettes fit in a 5 kilo box. The prices are less for the smaller and larger sizes."
Due to the early warm weather there is also plenty of supply of open ground courgettes as well as those from the greenhouse. The market is therefore under considerable pressure. Add to this that the supply from the south only continues to rise. "Theo: "It's like they're continuing for longer and longer in the south. Yet there is a difference in quality. A Dutch greenhouse courgette looks very different to an open ground courgette or one from Spain."
The greenhouse in Poeldijk consisting of a total of 0.9 hectares is half full of green courgettes in the summer. The other half of the ground rests, after being full of endives over the winter. Theo: "We have already had the main peak, but we continue cutting."
Because the green courgettes occasionally hardly produce male flowers, Theo also has yellow courgettes. They serve as a back up in order to have enough males for pollination. The harvest of both colours goes to the Greenery.
Theo: "The yellow courgettes grow even faster than the green, so I visit the yellow courgettes twice a day. The prices for yellow are better now, but at the start of the harvest the green courgettes were going for better prices. The prices are very varied."
The summer heat doesn't harm the courgettes. "The crops can handle it well, but you have to stay on top of it. I cut everything myself, so I know exactly how I can cut the right sizes. Around 90% of the courgettes I cut are suitable for the 14 sorting. If you have different staff on site, I can imagine it being harder to cut the right sizes."
For now Theo doesn't see the market situation changing drastically. "At a certain point the supply from the south should dry up. A hail storm, which would disadvantage open ground courgettes, would also unburden the market in a sense. If this doesn't happen, the prices will remain this way for a while. By cutting a lot of 14 sorting, I'm relatively safe."