Nature's Gold is located in Zundert
More transparent price setting
The company supplies most of its produce to Veiling BelOrta. The Belgian endive is sold under the Flandria label. The reason that Nature's Gold has been supplying to the Belgian auction since 2001, has to do with the changing price setting in the Netherlands back then. "In Belgium, the price setting is managed better and more transparently. If you supply a good product, you usually receive a good price. In times of high production and low demand, that's a different story, of course." A part of the Belgian endive from Nature's Gold goes to France through an exporter. "We have worked with exporter DVL, Frank de Vleeschouwer for years, to everyone's satisfaction."
Left: Gijs van Dongen
50% core
The chicory roots are cultivated for Nature's Gold, but the Belgian endive cultivation takes place on location in Zundert. "When the roots come in, we first sort them by size. Then they are stored in special cold rooms with a temperature of around -2 degrees Celsius. Before they are grown in the pulling cells, they first have to acclimatize for 10 days. Belgian endive cultivation takes 21 days, so all in all we need exactly one month. By properly regulating the temperature, we nearly always succeed in staying within this time period. The trick is also to get the quality perfect. We make sure that the core isn't bigger than 50%, for instance. This is also one of the quality requirements at BelOrta. I think the core demand should go for every grower of Belgian endive, that would improve the quality across the board a lot. With a smaller core, the Belgian endive also has a longer shelf life, it has less of a brown edge, in short: it just stays fresh longer."
Not a forgotten vegetable
Belgian endive has had a tough time for a while now. "You really have to do all you can to keep up. There have been few peaks in the past two years. And yet, this season seems to be more positive," Gijs remarks. "January already began with better prices than last year. They weren't exceptionally good, but I hope the trend has been set." He thinks BelOrta does a lot to market Belgian endive and to look into new markets. "I myself also go to many trade shows abroad, to look for potential opportunities for our product. It's just difficult to actually get the consumption to increase. Perhaps we should communicate even more to the consumer. Aren't we paying too little for good marketing? It's important for people to see how versatile this product is. Of course we have to take care that Belgian endive doesn't become a forgotten vegetable!"
He sees opportunities for growth in the near future. "Nature's Gold has a solid foundation now with all the new investments, and we are ready to grow. We deliver constant quality year-round, and constant volumes. That's how we distinguish ourselves. If we could grow 30% more now, that would be an ideal situation when it comes to our operations. Cultivation-wise, everything could be managed even better and more perfectly then as well. Of course it's still important that we first find buyers for this extra production."
For more information:
Gijs van Dongen
Nature´s Gold Production B.V.
Meirseweg 37
4881 MJ Zundert
T: 0031 (0)76 5974403
E: gijs@naturesgold.nl
W: www.naturesgold.nl