The surface area agricultural land for the production of seeds and propagation material (such as young plants) rose sharply in the period 2002 up to and including 2018 in the Netherlands. The area of seeds and the like for open field vegetables rose in 2018 to a record high of 2,240 hectares. Also the area for the production of seeds for the cultivation of greenhouse vegetables rose sharply and increased by two-thirds to 490 hectares - just slightly less than in record year 2017. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands on the basis of the Agricultural Census in 2018.
The surface area of agricultural land for the production of seeds and propagation material for open field vegetables increased significantly in 15 years. From 2002 to 2014, the production area increased on average by more than 63 hectares per year. From 2015 up to and including 2017, this was an average increase of 61 hectares per year. The periods 2002-2014 and 2015-2017 just cannot be compared with each other. For companies that produce seeds and propagation material for open field vegetables a series break occurred in 2015.
The surface area for the production of seeds and propagation material for greenhouse vegetable cultivation increased by an average of 16 hectares per year throughout the entire period 2002 up to and including 2017.
Largest area for production of spinach seeds
On approximately one-fifth of the acreage for the production of vegetable seeds and propagation material for open field vegetable cultivation, spinach seeds were cultivated in 2017. This amounted to almost 425 hectares. Asparagus and winter carrot were in second and third place with a cultivation area for seed production of 380 and 250 hectares respectively.
In 2017, the total cultivation area for the production of vegetable seeds and propagation material in open field cultivation was 2,147 hectares.
Mainly in Limburg, North Brabant and North Holland
By far the most cultivation of vegetable seeds and propagation material for the open field in 2017 could be found in Limburg (32 percent), North Brabant (21 percent) and North Holland (15 percent). This means that these three provinces account for almost 70 percent of the total area for seed cultivation in the Netherlands. In all provinces, the surface area has grown in the past 15 years.
Source: Statistics Netherlands