News Arable
More potatoes and onions in the Netherlands
The area for seed onions and potatoes for consumption has grown this year in the Netherlands. Statistics Netherlands calculates this based on the provisional area figures. For potatoes, this involves more than 4% growth in surface area. For onions this is 12%. Never before have so many onions been grown in our country.
The total potato area in the Netherlands will decrease by 1.220 hectares this year. This is mainly due to shrinkage in the cultivation of starch potatoes (39.000 hectares, 8% shrinkage. According to Statistics Netherlands, the area of seed potatoes remains stable at 40.000 hectares. The cultivation of consumption potatoes is the only one increasing, by 4,3%, to more than 78.000 hectares. Potato cultivation will also decline in 2023.
Record onion area
The area of seed onions reached a record in 2024. In total it amounts to 32.700 hectares, which is 12,2% more than in 2023. Yellow onions account for 86% of the area. Red comes to 4.578 hectares. Onion sets have increased by 14,3% to 6.000 hectares.
The wet autumn has had a significant impact on the winter wheat area. The area decreases 34% (41.000 hectares) to a total of 80.000 hectares. The cultivation of spring wheat has doubled by 17.000 hectares compared to 2023. Spring barley grew by a quarter, to 25.700 hectares. Winter barley was sown 10% less: 13.000 hectares. In total, fewer grains were sown than was the case in 2023.
More flax, less field beans
Sugar beets grow on 84.820 hectares according to Statistics Netherlands. The increase in fiber crops such as flax and hemp is striking. In percentage terms this is significant at 62%, but in absolute numbers 7.000 hectares remains relatively modest. Last year the area of field beans doubled, but this crop also had to contend with the wet autumn. The area shrinks 32% to 3.000 hectares.
Niels van der Boom
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