Strawberry production during 1960-2020 in a small village in the center of Belgium: from small-scale production to industrial scale

In the 1960s, strawberry production in Belgium was booming as a profitable horticultural activity.
In a small village in the center of Belgium, approximately half of the families, around a hundred, were producing strawberries.
Different factors stimulated the expansion: the social situation, where women stayed at home taking care of the strawberry plants, and men, working outdoors, spent their vacation harvesting the strawberries.
Vigorous plants, productive cultivars, grown where never before strawberries were cultivated, contributed to high production.
There was technical support from leaflets from research stations and the government.
A local daily strawberry market guaranteed the distribution of fresh strawberries to the bigger cities.
There was a competition among growers to produce large and uniform-quality fruits, and each year, an exposition sponsored by the government rewarded fruits with the most beautiful appearances.
Twenty years later, soil-borne diseases emerged after monoculture, incurring significant costs.
There was overproduction and imports from southern countries: prices were low for the June-harvested fruits.
The government imposed taxes on production, and as a result, more women began working outside the home.
The local market stopped.
Around the year 2000, the local strawberry production stopped completely.
However, concentrated near auctions, specialized, larger production units started.
Essential elements included year-round production based on the choice of adapted cultivars, thorough knowledge of the physiology of the strawberry plant, chilling requirements, healthy substrates, marketing facilities, and postharvest quality.

EHC2024: International Symposium on the History of Horticulture in Europe

J. Coosemans

social situation, substrates, plant physiology, marketing

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1438.32