new video clip: Skillful harvesting

Holland has approximately 3,000 onion growers with an average onion acreage of 8 ha. You can find a parcel of onion land in just about every Dutch polder where the sea once had free rein. This relatively small scale explains both the intensive as well as the innovative character of the Dutch onion cultivation. The acreage of marine clay is limited to approximately 300,000 hectares in the Netherlands. With a crop rotation of 1 to 8 and an acreage of seed onions and onion sets of around 32,000 hectares we are approximating the limits of the best available ground. This makes the Holland Onion so special and very much a ‘Limited Edition’ so to speak. 

By learning from each other’s skills and results, the mechanization of the onion harvest has increased enormously since the beginning of the fifties. And still the knowledge base of the Dutch onion producers is the starting point for the engineering of new machines and equipment, digitalization and the emerging precision crop management.

Not only have mechanization, automation and digitalization reduced the timed needed for harvesting from 3 to 1,5 week over the past decade. The mechanical harvesting techniques developed in close consultation with the growers have also ensured that Holland Onions are comfortably in their own skin even after harvesting. The harvesting machines have been especially equipped with a good depth control at which the rollers carefully pick up the earth with the onions. The limited drop heights further reduce possible damage to the onion bulb.

This link shows you how the harvesting process of Holland Onions takes place exactly. If you would like to receive our newest videos automatically, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel here.