Earlier this month, Aart van Wijk of the soft fruit company Sikkert Berry's began harvesting the first blackberries from his 1-hectare greenhouse. "Every year, we encountered the issue of having too short a blackberry season with outdoor cultivation. Now, we can supply blackberries from mid-May to the end of November."
© Sikkert Berry's
Last year, 'De Sikkert' still had Kwanza raspberries in the greenhouse, but he was dissatisfied with them. "I had already tried them once in 2010, but since raspberries are often expensive in spring, I was tempted to try them again and foolishly planted them once more. But that will be the last time because the picking performance was poor. Back in 2010, I stopped growing this variety after one year, and now I have done so again. I don't rule out ever growing raspberries again, but definitely not Kwanza. Anyone still growing Kwanza now really has a broken calculator."
© Sikkert Berry's
Although imported blackberries are still available on the market, there is already demand for Dutch blackberries. "Fortunately, there are always customers who prefer fresh products from local cultivation. There are also those who choose the cheapest option, but they sometimes end up without product. It's outdated thinking to assume you can call a Dutch grower any afternoon to see if there is still product available. The cost price has become so high that growing for the free market is no longer viable. Our advantage is that, with our new sorting and packing facility opened three years ago, we can meet any packaging demand. This is not as easy with imported blackberries, which often come in standard crates, while we can supply customer-specific crates," says Aart.
© Sikkert Berry's
"The crop is in good shape. In about a month and a half, the greenhouse harvest will be over, and we plan to switch to outdoor cultivation around July 1. For the blackberries, we will experience around three weeks of slightly lower volumes, but this works well for us because that's when we begin harvesting Rovada berries. Once the outdoor season is over, we can continue with the second blackberry crop from the greenhouse. My crop planning is designed to keep the staff employed for as long as possible."
© Sikkert Berry's
The grower from Opijnen still offers Chilean redcurrants, which he imports himself. "The quality is good, and the marketing of redcurrants went well this year. Especially up to Christmas, sales were excellent, and although they continued at a slower pace afterward, the price remained quite high, which led some customers to opt out," Aart explains. He will begin the first harvest of outdoor redcurrants again in mid-June. "Growing redcurrants in the greenhouse is not appealing to us because it only provides two weeks of harvest and work for the staff. We adjust our planting plan to ensure there is enough work for people for as long as possible, making it attractive for them to work with us. As a result, we always have enough staff."
© Sikkert Berry's
Chilean redcurrants
"Perhaps we will try something else in the future, such as early outdoor cultivation with raspberries or greenhouse strawberries. We haven't decided yet, we will see what opportunities come our way. Our goal is far from being achieved because an entrepreneur never fully reaches their goal," says Aart. He looks forward to the new redcurrant season with optimism. "It is a bit dry, but manageable. The redcurrant harvest looks very promising. Last year wasn't bad either, but due to the wet spring, the shelf life for customers was somewhat shorter. Next season, it will be absolutely top-notch."
© Sikkert Berry'sAccording to Aart, who is affiliated with Veiling Zaltbommel, the strength of Sikkert Berry's lies in performing nearly all activities in-house. The facility covers an area of 1,200 m² over two floors, including staff accommodations, and features a ULO storage area capable of holding 150 tonnes of redcurrants. "We don't grow the plants ourselves yet, but we handle the harvesting, cooling, and packaging in any form or language ourselves," he says. "Thanks to the new facility, more and more customers are finding their way to us."
"Last year, we were already running out of space in the shed, so we added another loft for crates. Initially, we planned to add three more trusses to the shed this autumn and expand the ULO refrigeration, but for now, we are postponing that. We are still using the auction's cooling facilities as long as we can. Our question is how much longer we should continue cooling berries. We have always been used to storing Dutch berries until the end of April, but with the current range of resources, we have to consider whether that is still a wise choice."
For more information:
Sikkert Berry's
Zandstraat 119
4184 EM Opijnen
Mob: +31 (0) 6 41271690
desikkert@live.nl
www.desikkert.nl