Belgium: Flemish acreage of potatoes increased, vegetables decreased significantly

Fruits

Vegetables

Belgium

Published Jun 25, 2022

Tridge summary

The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries has made an initial preliminary analysis of the total declared area of a selection of main crops from the 2022 single application. The increase in the area of summer cereals and grain maize is at the expense of the area of vegetables, among other things. PotatoesThe acreage of potatoes has increased again this year, after the decrease last year due to the reduced demand for processed potato products at home and abroad during the corona crisis.

Original content

Consumers then went out to eat significantly less, which translated into less consumption of fries, croquettes and mashed potatoes. VegetablesThe acreage of vegetables has fallen sharply this year, as a result of the sharply increased cultivation costs (seeds, fertilizers, etc.), the reduced demand from the vegetable processing industry and the geopolitical situation that causes farmers to switch to summer cereals and grain maize. The biggest decline in the vegetables sector is the beans. Bean cultivation is very sensitive to drought or excessive rainfall, which has often been a problem in the summer in recent years. Also in 2021 the acreage of beans already decreased compared to 2020. In addition, the area of carrots is also falling sharply: after an increase last year, this cultivation is under pressure due to difficult pricing and the difficult harvest conditions last year. After ten years of continuous increase, the acreage for onions is also falling. The difficult price ...

Source: AGF