How Dutch Greenhouse Growers Are Using Biological Pest Control Tools

By Greenhouse Grower staff|February 17, 2026

Recent data from Statistics Netherlands shows that biological pest control was used in 94% of greenhouse crop cultivation in 2024, by cultivated area. That was around the same as in 2020. However, the use of certain types of biological control agents has increased. For example, the use of predatory mites and predatory thrips increased from 69% of the total cultivated area in 2020 to 84% in 2024. In addition, microbiological agents such as bacteria are used to control pests in over two-thirds of greenhouse crop cultivation.

To compile the data, growers of cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, gerberas, chrysanthemums, roses, potted flowering plants and foliage plants were asked about their use of biological forms of pest control. Around half of greenhouse growers cultivate one of these crops, and together they account for 70% of the total area under greenhouse cultivation, which is 10 thousand hectares in the Netherlands.

In addition to predatory mites and predatory thrips, other biological pest control agents such as ichneumon wasps, gall midges and predatory bugs, flies, and beetles were also deployed over a larger share of the total cultivated area than in 2020. Nematodes were the biological pest control agent deployed the least in greenhouses, at 12% of the cultivated area.

For most greenhouse crops, biological pest control agents are used on more than 95% of the total cultivated area to control harmful insects or spider mites. In cucumber and tomato cultivation, for instance, biological pest control agents were already in use across almost the entire cultivated area in 2020. For potted flowering plants and foliage plants the percentage was lower, but still well above 75%.

In addition to biological control agents, microbiological agents (such as bacteria fungi and viruses) are another more sustainable alternative to chemical agents when it comes to the control of insects. These agents are used to combat insects on 67% of the area used for greenhouse cultivation. They are used the most in gerbera cultivation, at 90% of the cultivated area. Microbiological agents are used the least in cucumber cultivation (50%).