The Netherlands produces 4.5 million tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables annually from almost 100,000 hectares of land throughout the country, and exports approximately two-thirds of its total production. In turn, each year the Dutch industry imports almost 3.5mt of fruit and vegetables, of which a majority is consolidated and re-exported. The UK receives approximately 430,000t of fresh produce, excluding potatoes, from the Netherlands each year, and the Dutch industry is focused on increasing this by offering innovative products, facilities and techniques.
“Innovation is key to the Dutch fresh produce industry,” says Age van Balen of the Dutch ministry of agriculture, nature and food quality. “We grow a great deal of good-quality produce in this country, and we import a great deal of produce which we add value to and export out again. A lot of fruit, vegetables and flowers come through the country and become value-added products.”
Although the Dutch fruit and vegetable industry is at the top of its game now, it has been a long journey. Maren Schoormans of hybrid seed producer De Ruiter Seeds admits that the sector has had to make significant changes over the years. “Trends in tomato breeding have gone in four phases,” he says. “In the 1970s and 1980s yield was an important factor, then in the 1980s the emphasis was on extending shelf life. But in the 1990s something went wrong; there was too much emphasis on yield and not taste. Now we are very much focused on taste above everything else.”
But by enduring these changes and learning from its mistakes, the provider of pepper, aubergine, cucumber, melon and tomato seeds has become a better and more innovative company. The family-owned business now makes a point of reinvesting at least 25 per cent of its turnover into research and development.
“In 1999, we looked at increasing the lycopene [a carotenoid with antioxidant properties] in some of our tomato varieties, and have been promoting its health benefits,” says Schoormans. “I believe that health will be the most important factor for consumers for years to come.”
De Ruiter Seeds has found that its participation in Fruit Logistica has worked wonders for its relationship with the retail sector, and Schoormans maintains that, even though the business is focused on commercial growers, it also works towards the retail sector’s needs. “The UK is a very important market for us and our tomato varieties have been going over to the UK for 20 years now,” he says. “The Elegance variety has done very well in Tesco this year. We have also been working with Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer.”
The majority of Dutch fresh produce companies have a firm share of the UK market, but many find that innovative products have difficulty getting through the multiples’ strict guidelines and packaging standards.
The Rainbow Growers Group (RGG) is a co-operative of 22 growers, and produces approximately 114ha of peppers, aubergines, vine tomatoes, chilli peppers and cocktail cucumbers. Part of growers’ association FresQ, the group has had great success in Switzerland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands with its Vitaminis brand; a selection of three snack packs comprising either 120g of honey tomatoes, three cocktail cucumbers and two sweet peppers. The brand won the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award last year and a Dutch greengrocer award this year, but the company has still found it difficult to break the product into the UK market. “We tried to get Vitaminis into the UK market last year, but it is very hard to get supermarkets to accept the concept,” says Iwan van Vliet of RGG. “We will try again next year with different packaging. UK supermarkets mainly want loose product that they can then repack with their own branding and packaging, which would change our whole concept.
“But packaging is not the only problem we have come up against. There have been problems with logistics; it is expensive to transport the Vitaminis on their own, and so it makes the end product more expensive for the consumer. But the concept is very popular everywhere else, so we will continue to try to break the market.”
Koppert Cress, which produces 16 different types of cress and markets a selection of products such as edible flowers, from its companies overseas, is making an impact on the UK market through its relationship with wholesalers and foodservice companies. Even though they are not its immediate customers, Koppert Cress welcomes caterers and chefs to its base in Monster, south Holland, where it demonstrates how its products can be used in the company’s state-of-the-art catering facility. Through this process, Koppert Cress reinforces the strength of the supply chain by then referring the needs of the caterers and chefs to the suppliers. “We have been focused on the UK market for the last six years,” says Edwin Koning, who handles marketing in the UK for the company. “More and more, we are getting British chefs over here and informing them about what we do. We are supporting our suppliers by educating the end user.”
Koning says the UK is becoming more familiar with the company’s products. Koppert Cress sends out approximately 25,000 boxes of produce a week to the foodservice and wholesale market in the UK, of which three per cent is accounted for by the firm's Karma edible orchid. The flower, grown on the company’s land in Thailand, has become a popular garnish and ingredient for special occasions, such as weddings, Valentine’s Day and Christmas, and is becoming a regular in the kitchens of top-end restaurants in the UK. It has a two-week shelf life due to the firmness of its petals, and it is produced all year round.
“Other edible flowers can be very sensitive, but Karma orchids are top quality,” says Koning. “If the flowers have wilted by the time chefs come to use them, they will have to change the menu and may not order the product again. If the quality isn’t good then we just don’t send them out. But popularity is going up, and in response we are increasing our production of the orchids. It is a difficult process, as everything, especially pesticides, has to be controlled. A lot of people can grow flowers, but not everyone can grow edible flowers well.”
Eminent, which specialises in developing, producing, packaging and trading in niche vegetables, has also built up a successful relationship with the foodservice market in the UK, and has recently introduced its Tomberry brand into Sainsbury’s.
Part of the Valstar group of companies, Eminent concentrates on developing niche lines for the specialised market, and introduces a new item from its research glasshouses at least once a year. The company produces the mixed chilli pepper pack - complete with a heat-o-meter that indicates which peppers are the hottest - the peach tomato, popular amongst the foodservice industry in the UK, and the Tomberry variety.
“It is the smallest tomato variety in the world and has a sweet taste,” says managing director Jan van Heijningen. “They can either be red or yellow. It is a trendsetting product and has done very well. We are increasing our production area of the variety from 2,400sqm to 6,000sqm, and we only started out with 10sqm four years ago. Sainsbury’s has been stocking them through one of our Dutch suppliers for a year now, and has them on an exclusive basis. Maybe in 2009 we will push the product out to more retailers in the UK.”
And it is not only products that get the innovative touch; greenhouse production in the Netherlands is also making waves. Last year, Prominent, a co-operative of tomato growers in the Westland area, made the decision to build a closed greenhouse with the aim of saving energy. The new greenhouse covers 9.3ha; 3.4ha of that is used according to the closed system, with the remaining room left as traditional open cultivation. In the closed greenhouse, surplus heat is converted into warm water and stored underground. This process takes place at approximately 90 metres below the earth’s surface, in wells. The heat stored in the summer months can be used for greenhouse heating in the winter months.
“One of the advantages of the system is that we can keep the whole greenhouse closed, and therefore the CO2 will remain indoors,” says Ferdi van Elswijk of Prominent. “The closed greenhouse retains CO2 levels at 800 to 1,000, which significantly increases our yield. But this is not our main goal. We expect a 15 to 20 per cent saving on fossil fuels.”
Prominent also uses a bumblebee system from Koppert Biological Systems, which has offices in the UK, the US and Canada, as well as the Netherlands, to pollinate the tomato crops within the closed greenhouse. This reduces labour costs and increases production, as well as restoring natural balance to the process.
TASTY TOM CAN’T GET ANY BETTER
Tasty Tom, a consortium of five tomato growers in the Netherlands, has found that it just cannot get any better than its Campari variety. Set up 12 years ago, the company now grows and markets produce on more than 35 hectares and started experimenting with the variety for more than two years. With a Brix level of 7 to 8, the Campari variety has a range of 45-50g.
“We have found some varieties with a higher Brix level, but in the range of 40g, which would make production slower,” says Ton Janssen, chairman of Tasty Tom. “It is a problem for every farmer; a larger tomato means production goes down per square metre. This season has had a lower production than the last anyway as it has been a bad summer, as well as the price being low.”
