Sustainable cultivation All our products from Dutch soil are the result of the most advanced and sustainable cultivation techniques used by our growers. A number of them make a special effort to maximise sustainability in cultivation by striving not only for perfection in taste, colour and shape but also for a minimal environmental burden. Examples of sustainable cultivation techniques include bee deals, water-borne lettuce cultivation, the closedgreenhouse principle, bio-fermentation and combined
Combined heat and power technology
heat and power technology. For more information, go to the verseoogst.nl growers' platform.
Strawberry grower Arno Loos is one of the few growers to harvest in winter – without needing any natural gas for heating. The adjacent bio-fermentation plant produces enough heat and power for his entire company, yielding a saving of 1 million cubic metres of natural gas. Kwekerij Loos from Moerstraten built the fermentation plant (the BioMoer) in collaboration with two neighbouring businesses. The utilisation of residual heat also helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by no less than 12,000 kilotonnes of CO2.
Water-borne lettuce cultivation Pater Broersen BV from Waarland is the first company in the Netherlands to cultivate various lettuce varieties on water in the open air. Products grown this way require less labour and use less water and fewer crop protection agents, whilst the emission of CO2 is reduced as is the discharge of fertiliser into the soil and surface water. In rainy periods the excess rainwater is stored for later use in cultivation. The fertilisers added to the water do not leach into the
Resilient cultivation and organic crop protection
surface water. Also, production in a growing pond results in better working conditions and allows the
Noordhuys Tomatoes in Oude Tonge applies the
crop to be harvested by machine.
principles of resilient cultivation to 14 hectares of vine cherry tomatoes. The plants are treated using organic crop protection methods, ensuring that the existing soil life is not disturbed. This has served to reduce the use of chemical crop protection agents by 90%.
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Report of The Greenery B.V. General Management