The past 10 years in Dutch horticulture has seen the number of growers shrink. Despite this, due to new production methods and techniques, volumes have risen across all of the staple Dutch glasshouse product lines such as tomatoes, peppers and capsicums, as well as the core staple of the Dutch flower industry, the chrysanthemum.

Over the past two years the horticulture industry in The Netherlands has been hit by an unenviable combination of reduced demand and over capacity, leading to dramatically reduced prices for the growers. This, combined with a strong euro position against the pound and the US dollar, has lead to margins for exporters also being under pressure.

The result has meant that recruitment within the industry has slowed. There is certainly less activity in the commercial functions of traders and sales people, compared to the production and growing functions. When people have left, the positions have not necessarily been filled, leading to good quality candidates being left on the market. There are signs of improvement, however. As the market stabilises with a strong euro, exports have resumed and the latent demand through Europe has meant that exports are starting to rise again. It is predicted that recruitment - with the number of advertised jobs increasing this autumn - will strengthen further in 2010.