Coöperatie Hoogstraten, the Belgian cooperative based in the Antwerp province, is well known for its strawberries. The cooperative’s strawberries, sold in their distinctive boxes and retail packs, are a familiar sight across the market, particularly during the peak strawberry season.

VersPodium, an initiative of Wilma van den Oever and Maurice Wubben, brought a group of Dutch fresh produce professionals and several ornamental horticulture sector representatives to visit Coöperatie Hoogstraten. The visitors had ample opportunity to taste strawberries and were given a tour of the cooperative’s facilities, which focus on strawberries, tomatoes, and sweet peppers.

Innovation has also become an increasingly prominent focus in recent years. “It has become a more and more important topic,” said Marcel Biemans, who presented alongside Michiel Vermeiren. Both Marcel and Michiel joined the cooperative’s Management Team at the start of the year. The two, both growers’ sons, explained the cooperative’s innovation focus and gave concrete examples of initiatives Coöperatie Hoogstraten has been working on.

© Thijmen Tiersma | FreshPlaza.comDuring the tour, the department with automatic box and punnet set-up machines was demonstrated: a smart answer to labor challenges, with extensive traceability in the chain. Each box has a QR code, allowing consumers to get to know the grower behind the product, and even send a message with compliments or constructive criticism.

Doubling turnover
With strawberry, sweet pepper, and tomato as its main products, Hoogstraten is seeing consolidation among its growers. In 2025, the cooperative had 165 members. That number is declining; smaller strawberry growers in particular are stepping back. Turnover, however, continues to rise. “Over the past few decades, we have doubled our turnover every ten years. We naturally hope to continue this trend,” said Biemans, pointing to the revenue figures on screen.

In 2025, product turnover reached 385 million euros. The largest volume handled at Hoogstraten comes from tomato growers, who delivered 108.6 million kilograms of tomatoes in 2025. With approximately 120 growers, strawberry producers are by far the largest group among the membership. What stands out is that strawberries, despite lower volumes, are approaching tomatoes in terms of revenue. In 2025, tomatoes accounted for 44% of turnover; strawberries reached 42%.

© Thijmen Tiersma | FreshPlaza.comThe Hoogstraten site is located close to the center of Hoogstraten. The site is fully built up, as can be seen in several steps in the large photos. The challenge is therefore to make optimal use of the existing space.

Growth ambition in peppers
Sweet pepper volumes and revenues are considerably lower, Biemans acknowledged. Several pepper growers have left the cooperative in recent years. As a cooperative that sells via clock auction, it is important for Hoogstraten to have sufficient supply. The cooperative is therefore actively working to attract new sweet pepper growers, from Belgium, but explicitly also from the Netherlands, where the number of sweet pepper growers is much larger. “We have growth ambitions in sweet pepper,” Biemans stressed (link in Dutch). “This is underlined by price comparisons showing that the payout prices for our growers are clearly higher than the prices paid in the Netherlands. As a result, three Dutch sweet pepper growers have already made the switch to Coöperatie Hoogstraten over the past year.”

© Thijmen Tiersma | FreshPlaza.com
Some of Coöperatie Hoogstraten’s pepper growers have their peppers centrally sorted and packed.

Premium price through clock sales
As during a previous VersPodium visit to BelOrta, the clock auction was a major topic of discussion at Hoogstraten. Dutch professionals tend to see the clock as a thing of the past. a perception that Biemans, himself Dutch but working in a Belgian context, is well aware of.

In Belgium, the view is different. The clock remains highly significant. Between 70% and 80% of members’ produce is still sold via the clock. And that delivers good prices, Biemans emphasised. “We are currently achieving excellent average prices for strawberries, and that is genuinely due to our clock sales.”

For specialty tomatoes and sweet peppers, a larger share is sold on contract. Tomatoes from large producers such as Den Berk and Tomeco are also often loaded directly at the farm rather than passing through Hoogstraten, while the commercial handling continues to run via Coöperatie Hoogstraten.

To give growers the opportunity to differentiate their product, the cooperative’s Harmony sales system allows clock buyers to purchase produce from a specific grower within a batch on a preferential basis. This earns the grower a price premium and, in 2025, enabled Coöperatie Hoogstraten to generate one million euros in additional turnover from the market, according to Michiel Vermeiren, Business Manager at the cooperative.

© Thijmen Tiersma | FreshPlaza.comOn Tuesday afternoon, special promotional boxes were run, among other things. An all-inclusive trip for two to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp can be won.

UV-C robots
Biemans took the Dutch visitors through a variety of developments in strawberries and innovations that the cooperative is actively promoting together with Proefcentrum Hoogstraten and its growers. A notable example is the UV-C robot, which growers have increasingly adopted as a sustainable method of controlling powdery mildew in strawberries. A dedicated day was organised at which four models from different suppliers could be observed and compared by growers in a practical, field setting.

© Thijmen Tiersma | FreshPlaza.com
Moving machines always attract attention, including on Tuesday during the tour.

Everbearers
One variety-related innovation is the rise of ever-bearing cultivars. The variety Karima has become particularly popular. Because propagating this variety proved challenging and access to plant material was not always straightforward, Coöperatie Hoogstraten worked with the breeding company to set up a dedicated propagation programme for its growers. Following a trial in 2024, the programme was scaled up the following year. By now, 25 growers are already making use of this facility, Biemans reported.

© Thijmen Tiersma | FreshPlaza.com
A strawberry tasting was also part of the program. With trays of strawberries already on the table during the presentation, for many, the tasting had already begun by then.

AI harvest forecasting
Coöperatie Hoogstraten today employs 145 staff. Staff numbers have grown, including on the IT team. In the field of IT, the cooperative is actively pursuing innovation. Vermeiren took the Dutch visitors through the development of an in-house AI harvest forecasting tool, for which the cooperative engaged technology partner Möbius.

Climate change and the growing share of ever-bearing varieties have made an already difficult-to-predict strawberry harvest even harder to forecast. The era in which virtually every grower supplied Elsanta is over. The forecasting tool is now able to predict harvests with up to 87% accuracy, up to eight weeks ahead, based on data covering growing area, weather, and historical supply volumes.

The AI forecast is a complement to the harvest estimates that growers continue to share with the cooperative through a consultative group. One notable aspect is that Coöperatie Hoogstraten has chosen not to incorporate crop or greenhouse climate data into the forecasting tool. Vermeiren explained that growers are not always willing to take on the daily additional labour that logging such data requires, and that not everyone has yet reached the stage of having that data extracted automatically from the greenhouse by new technologies.

The cooperative is satisfied with the current improvements to forecasting accuracy. Vermeiren expects that further refinement of the tool, including the addition of more ever-bearing variety data, will lead to even more precise forecasts. In time, feeding forecast data back to growers for use in their labour planning is also seen as a possibility.

© Thijmen Tiersma | FreshPlaza.comTomato specialties from growers Den Berk (left, Kumato) and Tomeco (right, Thomasso)

Innovation and consolidation
These examples illustrate how the cooperative aims to continue adding value for its members through innovation. Growers are becoming larger, and consolidation is a reality, and that creates an expectation that the cooperative keeps pace and offers something in return.

The Dutch visitors came away impressed by the innovation agenda and by the exceptional quality of the strawberries they tasted. A particular compliment goes to grower Anton Ros, whose strawberries were served during the visit. Via the QR code on the packaging, he will have received those compliments directly.

For more information
Coöperatie Hoogstraten
[email protected]
www.hoogstraten.eu

VersPodium
www.verspodium.nl