The global cultivated area at BelOrta will slightly decline again in 2025. For vegetables, the overall greenhouse area decreases by 1.6%. Because some growers installed lighting in their greenhouses last year, the share of greenhouses with illuminated crops has risen to 15%. The overall outdoor vegetable area remains stable. The trend for fruit is declining. For pome and stone fruit, the decrease is still limited to 2.3%. However, they see a sharp decline in soft fruit, both in protected cultivation (-9.6%) and outdoor cultivation (-16%).
About ninety growers or 7% of the active growers in 2024 have indicated that they will cease their business activities in 2025 and/or will no longer supply vegetables and fruit to BelOrta. This percentage of quitters is in line with previous years and the demographics of its growers. About three-quarters of the quitters are over 60 years old. In addition to these growers, there are also some growers under 55 who have indicated that they will stop growing vegetables and/or fruit for BelOrta.
This emerges from the results of an area survey that the cooperative sent to all active growers at the end of October 2024 to indicate the cultivation planning for the year of 2025. They provide an overview of the expected trends for 2025 among some of the major products from BelOrta's growers.
Fruit Vegetables
The overall area of fruit and vegetables will decrease in 2025. Several growers have indicated that they will stop their business.
Tomatoes
Some tomato growers have indicated that they will stop growing tomatoes in 2025 or switch to another crop. As a result, the overall tomato area will decrease by 3%. In the 'year-round cultivation' method, more tomatoes are being planted under lighting again.
As in previous years, there are again some remarkable shifts between segments this year.
- The area of loose tomatoes decreases by 6%. This decline is entirely in the 'Prince' segment, which decreases by 28% compared to 2024. Some growers have switched from the 'Prince' segment to the 'Baron' segment, which grows by 63% compared to 2024.
- In contrast to loose tomatoes, the area of tomato trusses remains stable. Overall, there is a very limited shift of 1 ha from the 'Princess' segment to the 'Elite' segment.
- Like the tomato trusses, the specialty area also remains status quo. Within the specialties, there are growers like Cherrystar, Intens, Ministar, Ruby Red, San Marzano, and Velvet Rose, but also decliners, including Romared, Deliziano, Papritom, snack tomatoes, and Sweetbel.
Cucumbers
The cucumber area increases by 3% in 2025. The increase is in the 'cucumber and fruit vegetables' cultivation combination. The area where cucumbers are grown year-round remains at the same level as in 2024. However, the area of cucumbers under lighting has more than doubled.
Bell Peppers
The bell pepper area decreases by 2% in 2025. This decrease is in the blocky bell peppers.
They have the following changes for the colors 'red', 'green', and 'yellow' respectively -8%, +11%, and 0%. The ratio between the colors green/red/yellow is now 8%/61%/30%. In contrast to the blocky bell peppers, the area of bell pepper specialties increases by 10%. Pointed bell peppers take the largest share of the specialties. In addition, peppers and snack bell peppers are grown on a limited scale.
Eggplants
The eggplant area will decrease by 1% in 2025 because several growers have indicated that they will plant fewer eggplants. Oval eggplants are grown on 99% of the area. A very limited area still plants elongated eggplants.
Zucchini and Green Beans
They expect a global increase of the zucchini area by 5% in 2025. This increase is in both protected zucchini cultivation and open-field zucchini cultivation. Additionally, there is a global decrease of the green bean area by almost 9%.
Greenhouse Leafy Vegetables
For greenhouse leafy vegetables, there has been a decline in production for several years. This trend continues in 2025. Several growers have indicated that they will stop growing greenhouse leafy vegetables or plant fewer greenhouse leafy vegetables. New greenhouse leafy vegetable growers are sporadic, and existing growers are not planning business expansions.
Head Lettuce and Alternative Lettuce Varieties
At the cooperative, there are two cultivation methods for lettuce: 'soil cultivation' and 'soilless cultivation' (= mobile gutter system and floating).
- The area of the 'soil cultivation' method has been declining for years. The problem of fusarium has caused the supply of soil-grown lettuce to decrease significantly in recent years. The downward trend continues unabated in 2025. Overall, a 12% decrease in supply is expected. According to the growers' reports, this decline is in both head lettuce and alternative lettuce varieties.
- The area of 'soilless cultivation' remains status quo in 2025.
- They expect the overall supply of head lettuce and alternative lettuce varieties to decrease by 4% again in 2025 due to the decline in the 'soil cultivation' method.
Field Lettuce
Due to less year-round field lettuce cultivation, they expect the field lettuce area to decrease by 13% in 2025.
Other
The areas of other leafy vegetables under glass are limited and planted by a handful of growers. BelOrta expects a status quo for arugula and a slight increase for spinach. Several growers have indicated that they will plant less or no celery (both green and white) this spring. The same trend is seen for endive. As a result, they expect significant supply declines in the spring for endive, green, and white celery.
Outdoor Vegetables
'2024' was a year accompanied by extreme weather conditions. The very wet weather conditions of winter 2023–2024 and spring 2024 had a strong impact on the planted/sown areas and the realized productions. Additionally, growers in certain regions suffered significant crop losses due to the storm on July 3, 2024. This winter is also characterized by gloomy and extremely wet weather conditions. It seems that the start of the new growing season will face the necessary challenges.
The overall area where outdoor vegetables are grown remains at the same level in 2025. A number of older growers have indicated that they will cease their activities. The area decline from these growers is compensated by the growth of the outdoor vegetable area among some existing and new growers. For several outdoor vegetables, a limited number of growers have specialized in a crop, taking a significant share of the area. These growers have a significant influence on any shifts in areas.
After processing the survey data, the cooperative sees the following intentions from the growers:
- A number of growers have indicated that they will plant less leek. As a result, the leek area will decline slightly again by 2%.
- The overall cauliflower area stagnates after the strong increase in 2024. They see more interest in greenhouse cauliflower cultivation, while the open-field area remains status quo.
- After years of constant area, the broccoli area will triple this year. The broccolini area remains stable.
- The sown/purchased area of chicory roots remains status quo. However, there is a slight increase in the area of chicory roots forced through the 'hydroponic' method. In the 'soil cultivation' method, they see a slight decline due to the cessation of cultivation activities by some older growers.
- The asparagus area decreases by 3%. This decrease is due to the cessation of older plantings. It is also awaited what impact the wet weather conditions of 2024 will have on asparagus productions in 2025. Both young and older plantings have certainly suffered from this.
- For the other outdoor vegetables, these are the main highlights regarding area changes: cabbage +10%, pumpkin +7%, Chinese cabbage -6%, parsnip -7%, celery -7%, and sweet potato -9%.
Fruit
Like outdoor vegetables, fruit production is highly weather-dependent. Frost during flowering, wet and dark weather... have a significant impact on the final productions. '2024' was an extremely unfavorable year for fruit growing. The cherry crop was almost completely lost. The yields of apple, cherry, and pear were very disappointing. Something that is typical for several fruit crops is that a planting remains in place for many years. As a result, areas of these perennial crops change less quickly.
In general, they see a declining trend in the fruit area. After processing the survey data, they see the following intentions regarding the growers' areas:
Pome Fruit
The overall pome fruit area (pear and apple) decreases by 2% in 2025. This decrease is mainly in apples. Several growers have indicated that they will uproot apple plots. As a result, the apple area will decline significantly by 5% in 2025. In contrast, BelOrta sees less of this for pears. The pear area decreases by only 1% in 2025. For apples, club varieties account for 15%. For pears, however, the share of club varieties is rather limited at 4%.
Stone Fruit
For cherries, there is a limited area decrease of 3%. It remains to be seen what impact the current weather conditions will have on cherry production in 2025. Cherry trees do not like their roots to be in water. The cherry area decreases by a quarter. Additionally, there is a limited area of plums on the rise. About half of the plum area is planted with varieties commercialized under the BelOrta label 'BelOplum'. Apricot and peach are also present on a small scale in the stone fruit product range.
Strawberries
The overall strawberry area decreases by 14% in 2025. This decrease is mainly in soil cultivation, which decreases by a third. The area of strawberries grown on substrate decreases by 8%. The trend towards more cultivation under protection (greenhouse, walking cap, and rain cap) continues unabated. The share of the strawberry area under protection now amounts to 94%. In strawberries, they again see some shifts in the planted varieties. Elsanta remains the main variety, but the area decreases by 18%. The share of remontant strawberry varieties is becoming increasingly important. The share now accounts for 37% of the strawberry area. In 2022, this was only 22%.
Soft Fruit
In general, a 4% decrease in area is expected. Pricing has been under pressure for several years, causing growers to reduce their areas or stop cultivation altogether. Except for blueberries, where the area increases by 16% due to guest auctioning, there is a decrease in the area of other soft fruits. Gooseberry cultivation suffered greatly last year due to plant loss from cane death, resulting in a 19% decrease in the gooseberry area. In other soft fruits, the decline is less significant: blackberry -6%, currant -8%, and raspberry -12%.
Other
More melons will also be planted in 2025.
Organic
Last year, a new organic grower joined with a substantial area of organic fruit and vegetables. As a result, a larger volume of organic fruit and vegetables is available at BelOrta. Crop rotation is an important part of organic farming. As a result, the areas of certain crops in organic fruit vegetables and organic open-field vegetables sometimes change, but overall, these areas remain relatively stable. In fruit, there are substantial areas of organic apples and organic pears.
For more information:
BelOrta
Mechelsesteenweg 120
B-2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium
Tel.: +32 (0)15 55 11 11
info@belorta.be
www.belorta.be