Price for apples historically low, “but I won’t let them hang”

For that reason, many apple growers leave part of their harvest hanging on the trees. But Bart Vanacker, an apple grower from Kortemark, cannot get over that. He picks all the apples anyway, and tries to sell as many as possible himself.

Bart has 2 hectares of pears and 5 hectares of apples. The pear harvest was good, but the sales price for apples at the REO auction in Roeselare is historically low and makes cultivation unprofitable. “At the moment we get between 20 and 30 cents per kg. Growing an apple already costs 30 cents, without sorting for the auction. If you add another 10 cents per kilo, that is 10 cents that we add.”

Many of Bart’s colleagues just leave part of their apple harvest hanging on the trees. He understands that choice, but he himself plucks all his trees bare. “I’m not going to let them hang, you don’t grow apples or pears to hang them on the tree. I have 280 tons that I can store in fridges. I do two markets every week and also do home sales in our store. we live: sell directly to the consumer.”

Apple sauce

The low prices are also related to an oversupply of apples on the European market, including from Poland. “A lot of apples come from Poland. The cause is Europe. In a few years they will have given an 80 percent subsidy to grow trees. 5 euros for a tree, you got 4 euros back and now all apples from there come to Belgium.”

Next week a full truck with apples from Bart will leave for Germany to make applesauce.