What factors enable Dutch tomato growers to achieve much higher productivity than the Italiann and greek growers?
Tomato growers in the Netherlands have a huge productivity advantage over their competitors in Italy and Greece. Although those countries are sun drenched while the Netherlands are anything but, computerized, climate-controlled greenhouses, and a "soil" spun from basalt and chalk that resembles cotton candy, allows for precise control of humidity and nutrition, and enables growers to produce their crops year around. Growers in Italy and Greece generally grow their crops outdoors or in unheated greenhouses, and can only manage two crops a year. Dutch growers are able to achieve yields that are about ten times per square yard of those of Italian and Greek growers. And the Dutch have a supply chain advantage: an integrated Dutch trading company works closely with supermarket chains in Europe and suppliers around the world, so farmers are able to sell their output in high volume, rather than locally the way many farmers in other countries do. That enables Dutch growers to more closely match supply with supermarket demand. Finally, the Dutch tomato has been engineered to achieve a firmness that allows growers to harvest and ship tomatoes at their peak, while the "outdoor" farmers typically need to harvest their tomatoes before they are fully ripe to allow for firmness during shipping.
What factors enable Dutch tomato growers to achieve much higher productivity than the Italiann and greek growers?
Italy and Greece have low productivity compared to the Netherlands, despite having the advantage of good sun exposure, heat, and soil fertility to grow tomatoes. The Netherlands does not have the climatic conditions that would help the country grow tomatoes, or the fertility of the soil. They have computerized greenhouses, which are climate-controlled, compensating for the less fertile lands.
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Discuss the importance of the Dutch growers’ supply chain.
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