Huub Welles and Lilian Litjens start Agro & Retail Desk

Huub Welles and Lilian Litjens have started the Agro & Retail Desk, a bureau in horticulture focussed on creating a commercial collaboration in the sales chain of grower to retail. "There is a big need from growers to collaborate with the retail and the retailers are looking more for the source and are looking for new roads to connect to them. They seem to be two totally different worlds who don't speak each other's language. We see opportunities to bring those links in contact with each other and organise the chain between," says Huub Welles.

Huub has worked in the cultivation, market and sales of both floriculture and greenhouse vegetables for over twenty years after completing his education at the Agricultural university of Wageningen. His last position was the operational director of Kompany. His companion Lilian Litjens has been working as a consultant since 1991, in which she has supported horticultural companies, growers' organisations, governments and other companies with business plans, financial and organisational questions, (European) subsidies and improvement processes in the chain.

"Our activities will mainly consist of improving or redesigning horticulture chains with the goal of bringing producers, service providers and retailers together from their own perspective to successful, commercial collaboration links. We do this hands on, together with the client. A number of projects have already been completed and a number are in process. We can also be hired for improvement courses for individual links in the chain," says Huub, who mainly experiences a large need among growers to collaborate with the retail.

The good part is that we can also function as a platform for innovations, for instance those of seed breeders. A grower traditionally looks little at the needs of the market, the trade is often very focussed on correctly supporting the logistic process and growers aren't asking for innovations themselves. As an independent bureau we can organise innovation in the chain into successful projects."

For more information:
Huub Welles
Agro & Retail Desk
Vaandel 35
5346 WD Oss
Tel: (+31) 06 838 10 281
huub@agroretaildesk.nl

Lilian Litjens
Kluishof 36
3155 GG Maasland
Mob: (+31) 06 3456 3930
lilian@agroretaildesk.nl

www.agroretaildesk.nl