the start of the soft fruit and strawberry season had a huge delay because of the dreary and cold days. the strawberry acreage witnessed a relapse in 2007 and 2008. since then, the land has remained reasonably stable. the total farming acreage for strawberries accounts to 230 hectares. approximately 50 of the complete strawberry production is field cultivation. around 42 of strawberries are cultivated under protection. this cultivation is an increase of 5 in comparison to the earlier year. new packaging mieke thoelen mentions that they are revealing a new packaging for the top series. the best strawberries of the sonata and elsanta range are packaged this way. the new packaging has a special layout and also has an insert card, offering a lavish feel to the strawberries. this packaging is primarily meant for greengrocers, offering them the chance to stand out. mieke further said that there are quite a few promotional campaigns that are planned with the new packaging. raspberries for a number of years, the auction saw an increment in raspberry acreage. the trend is likely to be idle this year. the 2013 acreage remains equivalent to 2012. at the moment, the total acreage for raspberries is around 36 hectares. the most important variety is mara villa. blackberries until 2008, the blackberry acreage witnessed yearly growth. from 2008 on, because of the lower prices, borgloon auction was experienced a lessening of cultivation acreage. this year marks a turn with 2011 and 2012 indicating a recovery of the standard range prices for blackberries. this can also be seen in the increase of blackberry acreage with 1.7 hectares. the most important variety is loch ness. red berries currently, there is a little renewal after two years of lessening acreage for red berries. the sum of red berry acreage is almost 20 hectares. with 65, the most important variety is rovada. blueberries for a number of years, the cultivation of blueberries has swing at almost the same level, and this year is no exception. in 2013, the cultivation acreage for blueberries accounted for over 34 hectares. currently, above 90 of blueberries are cultivated in outdoors or fields. gooseberries in the last few years, cultivation of gooseberry has been doing extremely well. in 2010, the acreage reached the level of 10 hectares which is the highest level so far. ever since, it has remained steady. despite this fact, this year indicates a slight decline in acreage. in 2013, gooseberries&rsquo cultivation area sank just below 10 hectares. as the little plants are reaching full capacity at the moment, the decline will not affect the supplies. source of information httpnews.foodmate.com201305news18110.html
