Why participate in an onion pool as a grower?
An onion pool: what's in it for the grower?
With free trade, you decide for yourself when to sell your onions. This offers maximum freedom, but also requires you to choose the right moment to sell yourself. With an onion pool, it works differently. You place an agreed quantity of onions in the pool, and these are sold at various times throughout the season. You then receive the average price realized for the pool.
The main advantage of this is diversification. You do not have to predict when the onion market will reach its peak. You might miss a price increase after your selling moment, but a subsequent price drop will not affect you completely either. The pool distributes sales over the season and, consequently, the moment at which the market price is realized. Moreover, research into sales strategies shows that there is no structural selling moment that yields the best price every year. A pool is therefore primarily a way to deal with market uncertainty, not to guarantee the highest price.
Furthermore, participation does not necessarily mean that you have to place your entire harvest in the pool. You can also choose to pool only a portion of your yield and sell the rest freely or dispose of it in another way. This allows you to combine various sales strategies within your company.
Practical tip: When choosing an onion pool, do not just look at the question ‘What does a pool yield on average?’, but especially at the question ‘Which sales method suits my company, my storage facilities, and the amount of price risk I am willing to take?’ Also read the blog ‘Sales of seed onions: which contract suits you?’
Off-market or storage: which pool suits your company?
Within the onion pool, you can then choose between an off-land pool and a storage pool. That difference actually starts with your harvest strategy.
With an off-land pool, you deliver the onions immediately after harvesting. You therefore do not have to store the batch yourself and have no storage costs or storage period on your own farm. The onions are subsequently sold during the duration of the pool. This can be interesting if you want quick clarity regarding sales after harvesting, have limited storage options, or consciously do not want to take any storage risk. At PPA, there is also the option to use external storage.
A storage pool is particularly suitable for a grower who first harvests and stores the onions. The quality of the batch must be suitable for this: storage quality, quality of the harvest, and the capabilities of your storage system play an important role. The onions are subsequently sold at various times throughout the season. This allows good storage quality to be utilized to spread sales over a longer period.
That does not mean that storage automatically yields a higher price. Storage entails costs, quality risks, and extra labor. A pool can help with sales, but it does not change the quality of the onions you enter the season with. In the 2025 season, for example, the importance of quality and storability became apparent once again: quality problems during storage affected sales opportunities, while coarse and well-storable batches were able to hold their own better.
Practical tip: Before choosing a storage pool, determine whether your batch is suitable for longer storage and compare the expected storage costs and risks with those of direct sales. The best type of pool is not the same for every grower.
What happens after you register?
An onion pool does not mean that you no longer have any influence or insight after registration. At PPA, participation begins with mapping out your situation: the quantity of onions, your storage preference, and whether you wish to participate with the entire yield or only a part of it. Next, you register for the pool of your choice, and the terms and conditions are established in advance. Registration for the PPA onion pool is open until mid-August.
During the season, PPA sells the pool onions at various times, provided the quality of the batches allows it. Consequently, the sales are not aimed at a single specific price level, but at achieving balanced sales throughout the season. The pool committee oversees the way the pool is managed. This committee consists of delegated growers and also functions as a confidential committee.
That is an important difference compared to constantly trying to time the market yourself. You do not have to decide every week whether now is the moment to sell. At the same time, you give up some of that freedom: the average pool price can turn out higher or lower than the price you could have realized yourself at a specific moment. Recent pool results also show that this can vary significantly by season. For instance, the PPA pool for the 2025 harvest came in at €14.27 per 100 kg for yellow onions and €11.50 per 100 kg for red onions, whereas previous years showed significantly higher results.
Want to read more about the latest results? View the news item ‘PPA announces onion pool prices for 2025 harvest season’.
When is an onion pool right for you?
An onion pool is particularly interesting if you want to spread price risk and do not want to be fully dependent on a single sales moment. Additionally, it can provide peace of mind if you prefer not to deal with developments in the onion market on a daily basis. This does not mean that a pool is the best choice for every grower. Perhaps contract farming suits your need for pre-established agreements better, or perhaps free trade because you want to actively monitor the market yourself and determine your sales moments. Within the commission trade, these are different ways to sell your onions, and each choice brings its own advantages and disadvantages.
A simple decision aid:
- Opt for a offland pool if you want to deliver your onions immediately after harvest and do not want to bear storage costs or storage risks.
- Opt for a storage pool if you have suitable storage facilities and want to sell your onions over a longer period.
- Consider partial participation if you have different if you want to combine sales strategies.
- Look at free trade if you want to determine the timing of the sale yourself and actively respond to the market.
- Look at contract farming if upfront clarity regarding price, sales, and delivery conditions is more important to you than moving with the market.
The most important question is therefore not whether an onion pool always yields more. That guarantee does not exist. The question is which sales strategy suits your company, your storage options, your desired degree of freedom, and how you want to manage price risk.
Do you want to know which onion pool best fits your situation? View our onion pools and discover the possibilities for off-field and storage pools. Would you prefer to discuss directly what suits your company? Contact us.
