How to profit from expensive labor in agriculture?

Published Aug 30, 2025

Tridge summary

How do they do it? A Dutch producer of red currants and blackberries makes the high labor cost profitable | Agri.BG

Original content

In the central part of the Netherlands, we visited the farm of Anco van Gardere – a producer of red currants and blackberries, who combines production, sorting, packaging, and deep storage. We met the farmer during a trip organized by the initiative "Dutch Solutions for Bulgarian Fruits." Van Gardere speaks openly about his biggest expenses, the discipline in harvesting, strict quality control, and the technologies that allow him to sell year-round. How does he do it? The main dilemma in harvesting is known to every fruit grower: hourly wage or payment according to the result. On the farm, the base rate is 14.40 euros/hour (8-hour workday), and the real cost for the employer with social security and insurance reaches about 23 euros/hour. To not "punish" the good harvesters and not reward the weak ones, the farm adds a bonus of about 1 euro/kg during the main campaigns. "On average, they harvest about 15-16 kg/hour. The strongest reach 25-30 kg/hour – and then their pay logically ...
Source: Agri

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