In Belgium, BelOrta's strawberry season kicked off yesterday with the sale of the first of these soft fruits. Lieven Colembie delivered these first strawberries of the Sonata variety. BelOrta will donate this sale's proceeds to victims of the Ukrainian war via Ukraine 12-12.
It was a bit of a wait, but this cooperative now has locally-grown strawberries available again. Special Fruit bought the first box at a symbolic amount of €125 per box of 500g punnets. BelOrta doubled that amount and donated €2,000 to Ukraine 12-12. A consortium that includes the likes of the Belgian UNICEF branch launched this fund. It aims to provide humanitarian aid to Ukrainian war victims.
Daan De Keyser (BelOrta) and Johan Van Alphen (Special Fruit) show off BelOrta's first strawberries of 2022.
Increasing substrate cultivation
BelOrta has been marketing 9,000 to 10,000 tons of strawberries annually in recent years. Production has remained at the same level, but over the past five years, there has been a clear shift from outdoor to substrate cultivation. In 2017, more than 71% of BelOrta's strawberries were still being grown in open soil. That has since dropped to 35%. Substrate cultivation acreage continues to increase, making up 65% of the total area this season.
Elsanta, Portola, Elegance, Malling Centenary, and Sonsation remain BelOrta's main varieties. The early Sonata variety usually arrives first at this Belgian cooperative.
BelOrta producers, Lieven and Martine, with this season's first strawberries.
RPET punnet
BelOrta packages its strawberries in cardboard or RPET punnets. These RPET containers are made of 100% recycled PET material and, in turn, are entirely recyclable. Launched in 2021, this punnet became one of the industry's first circular packaging with a very low carbon footprint. Also, using RPET instead of PET containers saves as much as 450 tons of CO2 emissions per year. So, it is one of the most sustainable types of packaging on the market.
For more information:
BelOrta
120 Mechelsesteenweg
2860, Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0) 155 51 111
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.belorta.be
