Supplies for Ontario greenhouse cucumbers are strong and will continue to get stronger right through to the end of the season in November. Some farms are currently in the process of pulling their crops out and due to the end of the crop cycle and are replanting their crops. “We’re in our second and third crop right now (for high and low wire cucumbers),” said Matt Quiring of Nature Fresh Farms, which has 17.5 acres of high wire cucumbers and 5 acres of conventional low wire.
Prices are coming off but were much higher earlier on. “They were quite strong for the past 3-4 weeks when everybody was going through the replanting but we’re expecting the market to taper off a bit going forward as more acreage starts coming on,” said Quiring.
Heavy promotion at retail
Excess production has made a heavy push for strong ad volume at the retail level. “It’s a good time to put promotions in place for seedless cukes. We are definitely focusing our efforts down south in the USA as well where we see a big opportunity for growth,” he said, noting that much of the US market is used to field-grown cucumbers and are still unaware of seedless cucumbers and their benefits. “There are big opportunities down south. Even in the US in general. We’re continuing to push strong ad volumes with good retail price points in an attempt to draw attention to the category.”
Competition with field product occurs in the summer months (July and August). Consumers are tending to home gardens and local field production is being promoted at retail and local farmers markets. “Come this time of year it’s always a bit of a struggle for the greenhouse growers,” said Quiring. “But you (just) look at pushing ad volume and putting promotions in place to help mitigate those struggles.”
Education for new customer opportunities
Education is a factor when gaining market share. Quiring says it’s also consumer awareness and “making sure all the consumers and retailers alike know the benefits of buying a seedless cucumber. You definitely get a lot more consistency with seedless, you’re less apt to see quality problems with field grown production and of course the food safety of greenhouse grown is key.”
