Browse Data and Analysis

This year’s apple harvest is expected to be 197,000 MT, slightly lower than last year’s numbers and the lowest in a decade. Pear production is set to drop by around nine percent, with a total of 327,000 MT. The decrease in pear harvest is mostly due to tough growing conditions throughout the season, leading to fewer fruits per tree. When it comes to the land being harvested, apple acreage is shrinking further, down to about 5,220 hectares.

After a 2023 outbreak, and the authorization of three types of vaccines, a new Bluetongue disease outbreak occurred again in the Netherlands in the summer of 2024. The disease is also spreading to neighboring countries Belgium and Germany.

On January 10, 2022, the King of the Netherlands swore in the new Dutch Cabinet of twenty Ministers and nine State Secretaries. The new Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality is Henk Staghouwer. He is member of the Christian Union (CU), a protestant party, with a left wing orientation on environmental issues.