In Belgium, the cucumber acreage grew to 51.6 hectares last year. That was, however, less for products like tomatoes and strawberries.
According to Statbel figures, tomato acreage shrank by two hectares to over 608 hectares. Virus issues led to tomato growers switching to cucumber, bell pepper, and strawberries in the search for alternatives. Bell pepper acreage is, thus, up more than 11 hectares to 129.9 hectares.
In 2022, the total Belgian strawberry acreage was roughly the same as in 2022, losing only 0.6%. Here, there was a shift from open-field cultivation (-10.2%) to those grown in greenhouses (+9.5%). Statisticians include "all structures erected in glass or plastic, soft or hard, heated or unheated, in which one can stand upright' when referring to greenhouse cultivation.
Last year, there were 35,192 cultivation companies in Belgium, so 2.3% fewer than the year before. At -3.3%, that decline was greatest in Flanders. This decrease was accompanied by a slight 0.5% decline in cultivated land area. Among horticultural crops, a 4.5% smaller area was used for almost all open-filed vegetable cultivation.
Source: Statbel