The amount of crops grown in greenhouses decreased last year, reports the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). There were fewer tomatoes and cucumbers in particular. Fewer of these crops were grown due to the high energy prices. This made cultivation too expensive, so that some of the greenhouse growers decided to grow less.
Not only the total gross yields fell, but the yields per hectare also fell for almost all crops, the statistics office calculated. Only aubergines were harvested more per hectare.
The total gross yield of tomatoes amounted to 770 million kilos last year, 110 million kilos less than in 2021. 400 million kilos of cucumbers were harvested, 40 million kilos less than a year earlier. Companies decided to start growing tomatoes and cucumbers later and to stop earlier in the year. In this way energy could be saved in the colder months, but there was less harvest.
The consequences were less serious for peppers and aubergines. These vegetables are easier to grow in the winter in an energy-efficient way.
The amount of space in greenhouses used for vegetables last year was about the same as in 2021. Compared to 2012, more than 2 percent of space, the so-called acreage, was added. Last year, more than a third of that area was used for growing tomatoes. Peppers accounted for just under a third of the space.
The number of greenhouse vegetable companies fell by more than a quarter to 1160 in ten years. There are fewer companies in particular that grow tomatoes. Nevertheless, about one in five greenhouse horticulture companies is still a tomato grower, slightly more than there are pepper growers.
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