We look back and ahead in this newsletter. We are closing a special asparagus season. We are also enthusiastically welcoming three new colleagues that have come to boost the ZON team. Let us not forget our exceptional milestone: our cooperation is celebrating its 110^th anniversary!

The harvest took its time to materialise this year. Due to low night temperatures and a delayed warming of the soil, the required temperature level was only achieved later to start planting. The sector was worried about the impact that the extremely wet 2024 would have: what would be the level of damage in the fields?

This uncertainty led to programme adjustments. When subsequently the season was characterised by dry and sunny conditions, this led to high volumes internationally at the start of May. The end result was a short-lived pressure on the market. This peak occurred together with changing eating patterns, which meant there was a dip in demand.

It is striking that the total volume in 2025 has remained reasonably the same despite the loss of area of land after 2024. Thanks to the production capacity that dropped, the market recovered fairly quickly. Ultimately, price formation developed satisfactorily. The season proves that, despite hotter periods, the very significant falls in price no longer apply due to the decreasing area of land.

The issue that does, however, is becoming ever more visible is the structural issue regarding workers. Costs are increasing and staff shortages continue to be a bottleneck. It seems that robotisation has definitely made its entrance within this context. Technological progress is making itself felt: machines are becoming faster, smarter and more reliable. A future without asparagus harvesting machines seems nearly inconceivable.

We celebrated a special anniversary on 19 June: ZON being around for 110 years! This was a modest affair in which pastry was served in the auction room and employees of ZON enjoyed lunch together. We briefly reflected on the past, the present and most certainly the future. Together we have built, bit by bit, on what we have now become. A cooperative where growers, customers and employees work together to do it that little bit better each and every day.

On 8 July, it is 40 years ago that auctioneer Peter Rutten started working at ZON. A great milestone. He has been a trusted face in the auction room for very many years. We appreciate his huge dedication and commitment to ZON!

We welcomed three new colleagues at ZON: Iris van Nieuwenhoven, Kevin Stroeken and Yves Gubbels.

Iris van Nieuwenhoven has started at ZON Unigrow as an Office Commercial Assistant. Iris is 27 and has previously worked at Lidl. She also assists at the asparagus farm of her parents.

Kevin Stroeken has started as a Business Annalist at the Business Development department. Kevin is 24 and his background is in Business and Communication Studies.

Yves Gubbels has started as Junior Financial Controller at our Finance department. He already did his traineeship at ZON during the last few months and has now accepted a permanent position.