For the first time, chicory processor Sensus is receiving weekly batches yielding more than 10 tons of inulin per hectare. This brings the goal of raising average production to this level ever closer.
Ten years ago, the target was an average yield of 10 tons of inulin per hectare. This level was supposed to be achieved by 2023. While this hasn't been achieved, the goal is slowly getting closer. "The ambitious target of 10 tons of inulin per hectare of chicory we set years ago appears to be achieved this year. Not as an average, but for a large group of growers," says René Schunselaar, Agro Manager at Sensus.
The target of 10 tons of inulin per hectare was launched ten years ago to stimulate cultivation. Based on an annual growth rate of 4%, a level of 10 tons per hectare would be achievable by 2023, the thinking went. In 2015, an average of 7 tons of inulin per hectare was produced. During that period, targets such as 15 tons of wheat, 16,2 tons of sugar, and 15 tons of starch per hectare were also introduced.
This year's good yield is a combination of high root yields and an average inulin content of 17,4. Chicory is typically billed at an inulin content of 17, so the content achieved this year represents a positive balance for the grower. Tare yields are also very good, averaging around 6% this campaign.
This year's campaign launched on September 8th. Due to the high yields, processing the carrots is extending beyond the originally planned third week of January. Schunselaar now expects supply to continue into February.
Contracts for 2026 have now been finalized. At the end of September, Sensus announced a significant drop in contract prices. The prices of the one-year contracts were reduced by 28,5%, from €105 to €75 per tonne. Despite this, there were plenty of subscriptions. This indicates, on the one hand, that arable farmers have no alternatives. On the other hand, chicory is considered a valuable crop in the crop rotation plan. "I think that chicory, despite the lower price, can still yield a good balance and that many growers realize this," responds Schunselaar.
More demand than supply
According to Sensus, there was more demand for contracts than the processor could offer. The 2026 contracting window was already closed in mid-October. "We always contract according to a regional area plan. We never comment on exact hectares," says Schunselaar.
According to figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the Dutch chicory acreage will have increased by approximately 650 hectares to 3.759 hectares by 2025. The statistics agency estimates the root yield this year at 46,4 tons per hectare, bringing total production to almost 175.000 tons.