A fruit grower in Zeeland is inviting people to pick his red currants for (almost) free because he can’t find buyers for the crop.

Marinus Vermue also grows black currants on his land near Heinkenszand which he sells to fruit processors but he has no contracts for red currants and is now stuck with them, he told local paper PZC.

“One year is better than another,” he told the paper, “but this year the demand for red currants is zero.  I harvested part of the crop and delivered a van full at rock bottom price. And that is really not worth it. But I can’t just leave them to rot.”

Vermue’s fellow fruit growers in the area are facing the same problem, he said. “We normally deliver red currants to several other countries. We have been ringing buyers as far afield as Germany and Poland but no one is interested,” he said.

There are around 20,000 kilos of fruit still to be picked and Vermue is inviting all lovers of red currants to come and fill their buckets.

A financial token of their appreciation can be left in a jerrycan. The crop has about ten days left so people will have to hurry, he said.