European tomato, pepper, and aubergine harvests on the rise
Source: HD.com
Harvests are growing, with marked fluctuations The total harvest of the five fruit vegetables examined in the EU-27 rose from an average of 13.86 million tons in the period 2015–2017 to an average of 14.13 million tons in 2022–2024, an increase of 1.9 per cent. In this series of articles, the trend in the figures is described in each case based on a three-year average, comparing the average of the last three available years (2022–2023–2024, or 2023–2024–2025, where the most recent Eurostat figures allow) with the average of the first three years of the series (2015–2016–2017), rather than comparing two individual years.
Peppers and chillies increased by +11.8% between the 2015–2017 and 2023–2025 periods (from an average of 2.60 to an average of 2.90 million tons), eggplants by +13.9% (from an average of 796,000 to an average of 907,000 tons), zucchini by +5.2% (from an average of 1.48 to an average of 1.56 million tons), and cucumbers by 7.7% (2015–2017 compared with 2022–2024). Only the tomato harvest saw a decline: -6.8 per cent (2015–2017 compared with 2022–2024, from an average of 6.74 to an average of 6.28 million tons).
Peppers reached a peak in 2021 (3.20 million tons, an all-time record), followed by a decline in 2023 (2.84 million tons) and a subsequent recovery. Zucchini and cucumbers also peaked in 2020 and 2021, followed by a correction in the subsequent years.
Why this matters: For operators, this is a water-management story. The useful signal is that direct substrate measurements can help cut drain loss materially without giving up yield or fruit quality, which is exactly the kind of controllable efficiency gain a facility can build on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does substrate sensing matter in free-drain strawberry systems?
Because drain percentage tells a grower what already happened, while substrate moisture and EC data show root-zone conditions directly. That makes it easier to cut water loss without guessing.
What is the operator takeaway from this trial?
If the thresholds are understood well enough, growers can reduce drain water materially while protecting yield and fruit quality, which makes sensing an operational tool instead of a reporting tool.
