Dutch Horticultural community generally pleased with annual report numbers

Dutch horticulturalists can look back on a relatively good year. Of the respondents, 83% is satisfied with the financial results and 22% gives a rating of 8 or higher. This is significantly better than in 2011, when 66% found it sufficient, 18% found it "good" and 34% gave a negative response. For 2013, the outlook is more positive. As much as 90% has confidence in the future of the company and 39% of respondents indicated a rating of 8 or higher. A year ago, the expectations were similar, but less confident. The number of participating growers of the survey of Flynth and LTO Noord Advice has doubled from 180 to almost 400.

Of the respondents, 83% (2011: 66%) labels the report “sufficient” and says the same of the own company. The average score increased from 5.9 in 2011 to 6.3 in 2012. In 2012 42% achieved revenue growth, compared to 34% in 2011. 37% reported a decline in revenue in 2011 as opposed to 25% in 2012.

The image of the horticulture sector seems slightly improved, as a smaller-than-usual portion of the industry experienced a deterioration of the image (12% in 2012 and 15% in 2011) and a higher proportion experiencing an improvement: 21% in 2011 and 24% in 2012.

In 2012 19% of entrepreneurs experienced problems financing their business, compared to 15% in 2011. In line with industry signals more companies encountered a decline of sales and stricter financing rules by banks.

Most horticulturists do not respond positively to the question whether they see cooperation as a solution to their problems. Cooperation between entrepreneurs scores lowest: over a quarter is positive and almost half is not.

In general, the community is not happy with government performance and regulation in the past year. The government, in an attempt to reduce the administrative burden, achieved little to no result in the horticultural sector. Regulatory pressure appears to be a thorny issue for entrepreneurs. Two thirds of respondents experienced regulatory pressure equal to the preceding year and a third feels that the pressure has in fact increased. Only 8% thinks the government did a good job stimulating the industry.

The majority is pessimistic about the financial and economic future of the industry, although no numbers were given to this effect. In 2013, 29% expect to invest more than 100,000 Euro (previous year: 22%). The nature of investments is very variable, both in scale and efficiency improvement..