Dutch horticulture grows despite uncertain years

The findings are presented in the latest Horticulture Figures published by Wageningen Social & Economic Research (WSER), commissioned by Greenports Netherlands and the former Horticulture and Propagation Materials Top Team.

The added value generated by the entire horticultural cluster ² increased from €16.2 billion in 2020 to €20.4 billion in 2024. The sector therefore accounts for approximately 1.8% of the Netherlands’ gross domestic product. Employment rose to 208,000 annual work units, representing around 2.5% of total employment in the Netherlands.

“The figures show that the horticultural supply chain is able to adapt even under difficult circumstances,” says horticulture expert Peter Ravensbergen. “The sector faced the COVID-19 pandemic, high energy prices, geopolitical uncertainty and increasing international competition. At the same time, businesses continued to invest in innovation and generally succeeded in strengthening their economic position.”

Dutch horticulture also remains a major international player. The export value of horticultural products exceeded €28 billion in 2024, an increase of more than 25% compared with 2019. Around 65% of these exports consisted of products made in the Netherlands. Fruit, greenhouse vegetables and cut flowers were the main export products.

The value of imports reached more than €11 billion in 2024, almost 15% higher than in 2019. Fruit accounted for more than half of the total import value.

The sector’s capacity for innovation is reflected, among other things, in its use of the WBSO, a Dutch tax incentive scheme for research and development. Businesses in the horticultural supply chain made use of €516 million in WBSO support in 2024, almost 25% more than in 2019. Although the sector represents approximately 2% of Dutch GDP, it accounted for almost 8% of all expenditure under the scheme.

Wageningen Social & Economic Research has taken over responsibility for calculating the Horticulture Figures from Statistics Netherlands. Due to changes in the research method and the availability of data, the results are not always directly comparable with previous editions. To enable a consistent comparison, the new method has been applied to all figures from 2020 onwards.

¹The horticultural supply chain consists of businesses operating in the following segments: technical and other suppliers, the cultivation of seeds and propagation materials, horticultural production, wholesale and processing.
²In addition to businesses in the horticultural supply chain, the horticultural cluster includes additional suppliers, such as steel and glass suppliers and banks, as well as distributors such as transport companies and retailers.