History

1933

In 1933, the cooperative society " Catholic Auction Association of the Northern Kempen" was founded. The founders and originators of this venture were mostly not growers: including MP Mr. Van de Kieboom, and a brewer, two teachers, a shopkeeper and two (small-scale) fruit growers. The investment and number of employers of the auction itself remained very limited - mainly due to the seasonal activities. In the early years, it was even closed during the winter. The founders also encountered opposition and had to overcome many difficulties.

During the Second World War, the auction was a supply point for food and agricultural cooperatives and many large vegetables were grown. After the war, intensive strawberry cultivation expanded fast, and mainly on the mixed farms where many families worked with their children. Jobs were scarce in the region, and due to the very intensive manual labour involved in tending and picking the fruit, although strawberry-growing did not offer a panacea for large-scale unemployment, it did help families to increase their income. From approximately 400-500 tonnes in 1945-46, production rose to 3000 tonnes in 1950-51. At the time, strawberries accounted for 90 % of sales.
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1950-60

Cooperatives as a structure for the sale of horticultural produce made their breakthrough in the rest of Belgium. Auctions were established in Roeselare and Sint-Katelijne-Waver.

1960-70

The sector was increasingly dominated by professional growers. With the use of greenhouses, strawberries for the fresh market accounted for an increasing share of the sales of Veiling Hoogstraten. Other products during the clock auctions included gherkins and strawberries for the food processing industry.

1970-80

The popularity of strawberries continued to rise, but they had company at the auction. It was in this period that the first growers started growing vegetables under glass too.

1980-90

Rapid technological changes were also transforming horticulture. Strawberries could now be harvested all year round thanks to the refrigerator of the plant material. The sophistication of growing technique under glass caused a "vegetable boom". Tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers were at the top of the hit parade.

1990-2000

At the same time, Veiling Hoogstraten also underwent a metamorphosis for the 21st century. The refrigeration infrastructure was optimised and a far-reached automation process made it possible to trade online, for example. The cooperative has become a big player on the European fruit and vegetable market. The first financial year of the new millennium concluded with sales of 84.248.000 €

2000 -now

Veiling Hoogstraten  has been able to achieve strong growth over the past few years. All the sections within the cooperation have contributed to this. Even though the number of active members has continued to decrease, the acreage continues to grow even stronger. The focus on quality and food safety has never been so intense. The implementation of a powerful track & trace system covers this section completely. On the other hand, the number of employees has continued to increase, to the extent that the auction house has had to take part in union elections, and a Health and safety at Work policy (CPBW) has had to be put in place. At the commercial level, the auction clock remains the central sales instrument. This does not alter the fact, however, that Veiling Hoogstraten started selling specialties in 2005, and later under its own brand name Specialty Street, without the use of the auction clock. As a result of active sales and the expansion of the commercial team, we have been able to attract new customers, and this has also proved to be of benefit to the standard products. We recently started a pre-sale system for truckloads of tomato bunches, to be loaded at the producers. This offers simultaneous advantages for our customers, our producers and for the auction house; a win-win-win situation.

Cost-management has become essential, both at our producers’ sites and at the auction house. Energy is often a major problem here. In the context of a sustainable operation, the auction house started a solar panel project in 2009 that will become operational at the end of 2009.

Cooperation is gaining increasingly in importance. In 2006, the long-term cooperation between the auction houses Veiling Profruco, CLTV Zundert and Veiling Hoogstraten was ratified by the foundation of the inter-cooperative society In-Co. In-Co achieved a combined turnover of 140 million euro in 2008. The binding factor here was certainly the strawberries.

The Hoogstraten® brand has been thoroughly upgraded: a completely new campaign, an own website, a hot air balloon, an own stand at national and international trade fairs, partnerships in various national events, an initial market survey, a punnet with logo, … and much more.

Not only has Hoogstraten expanded further, the Flandria range has also grown. LAVA started the States General in the context of further cooperation, although the result of this development is not yet known.

2008 was a special year: Veiling Hoogstraten celebrated its 75-year jubilee. This was reason enough for a great celebration, which was started with the introduction of a new auction logo and corporate style.

Veiling Hoogstraten is ready for the future!