Opinion
As partners, we clearly gain more from our efforts.” Does the auction always make the best match between buyer and grower? “REO Veiling is a playmaker between producer and the market, in any case. When selling at auction, the match between producer and buyer is decided by the formation of the bloc (quality, sorting, production manner), and the auction purchase of the buyer. With other purchases, the auction acts as matchmaker between producer and buyer. Optimum logistics or interpretation can be striven for with this, however, this is always within the collective and therefore cooperative chalk marks. All producers who can meet a demand, are always given the chance. For two years now, we have also been working with sustainable cooperations, established in charters, within the auction. We have about 20-group producers who have worked out a similar charter of cooperation. One example of such a cooperation is the Fine Fleur butterhead lettuce. This lettuce is only traded during the season, and is harvested in the morning before daybreak, sold at auction in the meantime, and supplied to the customer before noon that same day, cooled. Producers who want to work together according to these strict guidelines, could engage by signing the cooperation charter. There are 80
AGF Primeur • Special Edition Fruit Logistica • 2018
strict requirements especially in the field of quality. In order to supply the best quality, growers have to be motivated from within. It is important that producers take professional pride in their product.”
Has that focus on quality increased in recent years? “We’ve always had that focus, but it has changed. More than 20 years ago, Flandria started as a quality label and ensured dynamics as regards quality. We have now discovered that a quality assessment that only starts at the inspection table is too late in some cases. The change in previous years has been devotion to the quality of the source, right from the start of the production. This, combined with the professional pride of our growers and their daily involvement with our cooperative operation, makes all the difference. In that way, REO Veiling and its producers ensure the difference in quality. We, as growers, know the product best, and are responsible for it. During the harvest, we know if today was better or worse than yesterday. Every grower should have that honesty. This is the added value of working together in small collaborations within a larger cooperative. If everyone did it, the buyer could buy blind. We open our local market for European buyers. By the way, the most important auction room for REO product
is the people buying from home nowadays. More than 70 per cent of REO sales were realised by buyers not present at the REO Veiling in 2016!”
Does the auction also have growers who are less involved? “Today, the REO Veiling has 1,000 growers. Various activities in the past year show that at least half of these producers are actively involved with the REO Veiling one way or another. By the way, during the previous year, all of REO’s producers participated in the sustainability questionnaire, and that more than 535 producers participated in the producer’s survey about the way the auction operates. This means more than 53 per cent of our active producers. But we also have growers who just supply to our auction, and I have all due respect for that as well.” Is there also a threat that more producers will start taking care of their own sales? “I don’t think that it’s a very large threat. A cucumber grower who joined REO, once said: ‘This is the difference with a Dutch cucumber grower: When I get up in the morning, I know I can keep busy growing cucumbers. I don’t have to worry about sales. My Dutch colleagues, who are not linked to a cooperative, first have to wonder