“Prices right now for greenhouse tomato growers are not extremely good nor extremely bad – they're normal,” said GreenQ's Tomasz Krasowski. GreenQ consults greenhouse growers, and Krasowski is (along with his two polish colleagues) charged with providing advice to Polish greenhouse growers on all aspects of growing. In his experience analysing the industry and advising growers on how to improve business, Krasowski has seen many things which point to a better picture in the future for tomato growers. While prices might be middling right now, growers in Poland are actually in better shape than growers in other parts of Europe.“Polish growers are traditional, so it can be hard to convince them to look at opportunities or other ways of working,” said Krasowski. But the next generation of growers is more open to implementing new techniques and re-thinking the ways things have been done in the past. Where Krasowski sometimes finds it hard to get tomato growers to change the things they've always done, he is relieved when younger people take his advice and adopt GreenQ's analytic approach to growing.
“We try to make growers more aware of yields, costs per acre and all of the numbers you have to think about,” said Krasowski. “You have to calculate everything, and we’re just now getting growers to think that way here in Poland.” GreenQ uses a specially designed tool called the GreenScheduler to support these calculations of the consultants. As a simple example of one of the challenges he runs into during consulting he quotes the usage of energy screens in darker periods. "It is a bit of a revolution that is happening at the moment. Growers have been used to the same cultivation strategies over the last 20 years, and now we are entering their company and telling them to do completely the opposite. For the growers this was a big shock in the beginning. For example in the Wintertime when they are using energy screens. A lot of Polish growers are opening their screens during the daytime in the Winter to get more light into their greenhouse, not realizing that the cost of losing heat/energy, is more than the potential extra yield they achieve. We explain them to keep their screens closed in the daytime when there was no sun or light. Most growers are skeptical towards this, because they were doing completely the opposite: close in the case of sunshine and open in case of no light."
Another way GreenQ supports growers is by teaching them to analyze their problems. "Regarding fertilizers or irrigation strategy, a lot has changed. Growers usually connected every problem to their fertilizers. There was not much awareness on climate or water strategy when they analyzed problems, the fertilization was the first thing they checked and changed; too much or not enough calcium, or potassium, they just randomly changed their recipe and see what happened. Nowadays, we teach them to first analyze the recipe in the substrate slabs, and changed the recipe according these analyses."
Prices, Shipping, Marketing & Future
Unlike growers in the Netherlands, The Polish growers are making good money, without optimized operations and growing strategies. “There will be very good business in growing tomatoes in Poland in greenhouses,” said Krasowski. “We have a big domestic market, improving technology and the concentration of production will be good. But despite all this, Polish growers need to be more aware of how this will look like 10 or 20 years. We really try to make them be more aware of the future, so they will optimize their business and be prepared for the future."“Right now, prices are a little better than they are in Holland, for example, because we have a strong internal market,” said Krasowski. “Per capita annual consumption is somewhere around 17 kilograms, so we really like to eat tomatoes here.” Strong domestic demand adds another option when, as is the case now due to the financial crisis, prices are not strong on the export market. But even when it comes to exports, Poland's location also provides many benefits. Neither shipping to the UK nor exporting to Russia seem like daunting endeavors, and the lower transportation costs make more markets viable.
Though labour costs have risen in the last five years, they are still lower than in most Western European countries. But even rising wages point to a silver lining, as a demand for skilled greenhouse managers is an indication of an industry that is growing and willing to pay for people to effectively manage that growth.
Training
“A lot of people are coming back to Poland,” explained Krasowski. “People went to the UK in 2005, but in the last few years wages have been rising, so people have been coming back.” He noted companies are looking for talented people to manage greenhouses, and he thinks the next generation of polish growers and managers are up to the challenge. Krasowski also noted that the demand for educational greenhouse staffs is big, and for this GreenQ is now also hosting educational training sessions at Polish growers. "Their greenhouses are getting bigger, they can't be at 5 places at the same time any more."
For more information:GreenQ Horticultural Expertise Group
Tomasz Krasowski, Consultant (e-mail)
Tel: +31 10 5221771
www.greenq.nl