For cultivation and harvest as well as for price formation, the 2017 season can be described as difficult from land. This is reflected in the result that Agrifirm Plant announces for their onion pool. What does this lead to?
Agrifirm Plant will announce the results of their field pool for yellow and red seed onions on Monday, January 8. The latter concludes its first season. The final price for yellow seed onions is €4 per 100 kilos. For red onions this is €10 per 100 kilos. Agrifirm members will receive €2018 member benefit per ton in addition to the price in mid-1.
With the current result, the 5-year average of the ex-land pool amounts to €9,24 per 100 kilos. In the starting year 2013, the pool recorded €14,30, followed by €5,20 in 2014, €13 in 2015 and €9,70 per 100 kilos in 2016.
Difficult harvest
The off-shore period ran from week 36 to week 50. The season was extended by changeable weather conditions. The onions have been left in the field for longer than desired. As a result, the average quality is lower than in previous years, the cooperative reports. The erratic growing season also contributes to this. The tare percentages vary. In a number of cases fusarium, wear and water rot emerged. Because most lots were harvested with a relatively high moisture percentage, a lot of drying had to be done.
In addition to the harvest, transport was also a major challenge. There were only limited times available for the harvest and this coincided with that of other arable products. That caused a lot of pressure at transport companies. Agreements made could not always be kept. Temporary storage has been rented for the Arctic onions to get everything off the land.
Huge volumes
Agrifirm supplies the onions to several processors. Agreements were made about this prior to the harvest. However, due to the significantly larger onion harvest nationally, a huge volume of onions had to be processed. CBS figures show that this concerns 240.000 tons of onions nationally. The cooperative says it has responded maximally to the market and opportunities that were available.
Necessarily incurred costs have influenced price formation. This concerns additional transport, storage and drying costs. In addition, there is a loss of quality. These higher costs result in a lower pool price. The company informs its participants that it is not proud of the non-cost-covering pool price. Growers have also incurred more costs than in other years. Agrifirm emphasizes that it has done everything to do a lot of work with its employees and to put grower returns first.
Season 2018
Agrifirm will evaluate the pool for next season. One of the points of attention is logistics. This link is vulnerable when there are few harvest days. Consideration is therefore being given to the structural use of short-term storage options. In addition, the market possibilities are being reassessed so that the permitted area for the off-shore pool is tailored to this.
For the 2017/2018 season, Agrifirm Plant has a short storage pool for the first time. This pool only includes onions that are delivered dry from the shed. Growers have switched from both the field and long storage pools. The settlement of this pool will take place at the end of January.