"EU: "Peppers retain good quality"

The Dutch pepper season is doing not bad in terms of prices and quality and Chris Verberne, pepper advisor at DLV Plant, is satisfied. "The harvested peppers are still looking good. Generally in the Autumn quality declines but there is no sign of that."

Earlier this week Peter Damen from the KCB spoke about Autumn's effect on the quality and prices of peppers. Chris Verberne recognises the renown burn holes well. He is the pepper adviser at DLV Plant and is active in mid and southern Holland. "During the heat wave in August temperatures reached 37 degrees. Also in the west temperatures reached 34. Growers who worked with chalk had their screen installation removed and with open air comes direct sunlight." Peppers with marks are sorted out. The amount of inner rot is around average. Inner rot is a sensitive point in the sector. There were definitely cases of inner rot but that is expected at the end of September and is not too bad at the moment."

Low amounts of class 2

All in all, Verberne is very satisfied. "During the farm visits everything has looked pretty good. In the Autumn quality usually suffers and falls, but things are looking good for the time of year. The percentage of class 2 in the last four weeks is around average at 7-8%. Those are nice low percentages for early harvest. "A possible cause of the good quality is the dark spring. "The temporary low pepper production in the Spring results in beautiful, strong plants which produce good quality. There stands a strong factory." Verberne expects that the quality can be maintained in the coming weeks. "Towards the end of the season things normally go the other way, but there is presently no sign of that."