The Zeeuwse agricultural company grows consumption and seed potatoes, onions, grain, sugar beets and alfalfa, on an area of 1,400 hectares. The partnership has over four hundred shareholders, mostly descendants of the first owners who bought and dyked the salt marshes in 1809. Primeur asked him whether the attitudes of buyers changes at this scale.
“Our agricultural company was created right after the dyking of the salt marches in Goenje, Hongersdijk and Mosselbank, which were in the estuary of the Schenge. A group of Rotterdam merchants bought these salt marshes at an auction in April 1809. However, the dyking and building a sluice cost more than it would sell for, so there was nothing else for it but to start their own agricultural business,” says Vincent, talking about the origins of the partnership, which has thirteen permanent employees these days.
After the decision was made to farm, six farmsteads were built. Later two more buildings were added to this. Now the area consists of another 500 hectares of pastures, roads, water, nature reserves and mussel plots, including a leased area of almost 160 hectares and leasehold plots, as well as the 1,400 hectares of agriculture. From a European point of view this company size isn’t exceptional.”
400 shareholders
When asked whether it is possible to keep it all together with 400 shareholders, Vincent replies: “It’s crucial to have a long term vision and map out your company strategy based on that. We make our decisions democratically, but that doesn’t mean everyone always agrees with every decision.”
Doing business with a large cultivation company certainly offers buyers advantages, according to Vincent. “We have the advantage of size. It provides an efficiency advantage for buyers. Large companies can offer more in size, but also multiple year agreements for the long term. It’s quite different to doing business with one grower with 1,300 hectares or ten farmers with 30 hectares. But we would like to see these advantages reflected in the price they are willing to pay. I see too little of this at the moment. I do notice that the buyers’ attitude has changed compared to around ten years ago. People should realise more that they need the growers.”
Healthy growth
Although further area growth isn’t a goal in itself for the Koninklijke Maatschap de Wilhelminapolder, they certainly aren’t stopping it. “We say that we want a partner for every form of communication and expansion. We aim for a healthy growth, but are partially dependent in this on the opportunities that arise. At the moment you can see growers are ageing and many of them do not have a successor. You also see, with property values so high, that people are happy to be land owners, but are not so interested in exploiting that land for agriculture. What are heirs to do with the money if they sell their company? It is very interesting for us to work out alternatives to continue to the company together, where you will get a division between the owner of the land and the one exploiting it.”
Tightening of crop choice
The company’s building plan can be loosely divided into two parts: the first half consists of the extensive cultivations of grain (500 hectares) and alfalfa (200 hectares). The other half consists of the cultivation of (seed) potatoes, onions and beets. “Previously we had more extensive cultivations, such as grass seed or peas, but we recently scrapped them to shift the energy and focus to the other cultivation. This has been a good choice, as the management information shows that we performed better due to it. This tightening of crop choice is moreish,” says Vincent.
The companies that belong to Wilheminapolder are in all in a radius of around 30 kilometres from each other. “When expanding we always look next door. Of course there is a risk of weather damage as the companies are so close to each other, but this doesn’t outweigh the advantages in mechanisation, which means we can use the labour and the building effectively,” says the director. “Thankfully the harvest looks good at the moment. Exceptions aside, we haven’t had too much rain. When you see photos and hear stories from growers elsewhere, we can’t complain. The crops have had enough water. The lack of sunlight hasn’t been much good for the onions, beets and grain in particular.”
Although the Wilhelminapolder is big enough to take the sales into their own hands, the company chooses per product whether to sell the crops themselves or to do it with partners. “The sales of potatoes to the processing industry have been direct recently, but for the table potatoes we have a sales partner in Nedato. We won’t start doing that ourselves any time soon. The Dutch market for table potatoes is shrinking and if you’re able to supply the desired quality you can make a good price. A good example is Albert Heijn, which places requirements for table potatoes via Nedao, but is also willing to pay the grower a reasonable amount for this. This is why we won’t leave this segment any time soon. We are even looking at further growth, says Vincent. “In the case of onions we have a close collaboration with a grower, with whom we make annual agreements. We also grow a share for the free market. The first year planting onions we supply to Kesselaar.”
Soil as basis
The company has looked into organic cultivation, but in the end they made a different choice. “We made the choice to farm in a sustainable manner by allowing optimal production to go hand in hand with a cost leadership. You can only make money when your cost price per tonne is as low as possible. This is more difficult with organics, but we are trying to claim our method of working with a sustainability label,” says Vincent. “We are attentive to the soil and fertility, as it leads to a constant turnover. You can replace machines, tractors and people, but the land is sacred. You can't replace that.”
Whether the much talked about food shortage actually leads to more demand for his products is still a question according to Vincent. “In global agriculture we are seeing the yield rises move steadily up with the increasing demand. This is why we are investing in multiple year agreements. We want to work on this. Getting 0 cents for your onions one year and 25 cents the next isn’t sustainable!
Vincent has been at the head of the partnership for two and a half years now. “I started as a farmer, but have a very good company leader next to me who takes the operation side into account. So I am now more of a director.” He has one more mission he wants to speak about. “Sometimes as growers we forget to be proud of what we do. We have nothing to hide. Be good and tell about it!”
More information:
Koninklijke Maatschap de Wilhemlinapolder
Vincent Coolbergen
vc@kmwp.nl
“Our agricultural company was created right after the dyking of the salt marches in Goenje, Hongersdijk and Mosselbank, which were in the estuary of the Schenge. A group of Rotterdam merchants bought these salt marshes at an auction in April 1809. However, the dyking and building a sluice cost more than it would sell for, so there was nothing else for it but to start their own agricultural business,” says Vincent, talking about the origins of the partnership, which has thirteen permanent employees these days.
After the decision was made to farm, six farmsteads were built. Later two more buildings were added to this. Now the area consists of another 500 hectares of pastures, roads, water, nature reserves and mussel plots, including a leased area of almost 160 hectares and leasehold plots, as well as the 1,400 hectares of agriculture. From a European point of view this company size isn’t exceptional.”
400 shareholders
When asked whether it is possible to keep it all together with 400 shareholders, Vincent replies: “It’s crucial to have a long term vision and map out your company strategy based on that. We make our decisions democratically, but that doesn’t mean everyone always agrees with every decision.”
Doing business with a large cultivation company certainly offers buyers advantages, according to Vincent. “We have the advantage of size. It provides an efficiency advantage for buyers. Large companies can offer more in size, but also multiple year agreements for the long term. It’s quite different to doing business with one grower with 1,300 hectares or ten farmers with 30 hectares. But we would like to see these advantages reflected in the price they are willing to pay. I see too little of this at the moment. I do notice that the buyers’ attitude has changed compared to around ten years ago. People should realise more that they need the growers.”
Healthy growth
Although further area growth isn’t a goal in itself for the Koninklijke Maatschap de Wilhelminapolder, they certainly aren’t stopping it. “We say that we want a partner for every form of communication and expansion. We aim for a healthy growth, but are partially dependent in this on the opportunities that arise. At the moment you can see growers are ageing and many of them do not have a successor. You also see, with property values so high, that people are happy to be land owners, but are not so interested in exploiting that land for agriculture. What are heirs to do with the money if they sell their company? It is very interesting for us to work out alternatives to continue to the company together, where you will get a division between the owner of the land and the one exploiting it.”
Tightening of crop choice
The company’s building plan can be loosely divided into two parts: the first half consists of the extensive cultivations of grain (500 hectares) and alfalfa (200 hectares). The other half consists of the cultivation of (seed) potatoes, onions and beets. “Previously we had more extensive cultivations, such as grass seed or peas, but we recently scrapped them to shift the energy and focus to the other cultivation. This has been a good choice, as the management information shows that we performed better due to it. This tightening of crop choice is moreish,” says Vincent.
The companies that belong to Wilheminapolder are in all in a radius of around 30 kilometres from each other. “When expanding we always look next door. Of course there is a risk of weather damage as the companies are so close to each other, but this doesn’t outweigh the advantages in mechanisation, which means we can use the labour and the building effectively,” says the director. “Thankfully the harvest looks good at the moment. Exceptions aside, we haven’t had too much rain. When you see photos and hear stories from growers elsewhere, we can’t complain. The crops have had enough water. The lack of sunlight hasn’t been much good for the onions, beets and grain in particular.”
Although the Wilhelminapolder is big enough to take the sales into their own hands, the company chooses per product whether to sell the crops themselves or to do it with partners. “The sales of potatoes to the processing industry have been direct recently, but for the table potatoes we have a sales partner in Nedato. We won’t start doing that ourselves any time soon. The Dutch market for table potatoes is shrinking and if you’re able to supply the desired quality you can make a good price. A good example is Albert Heijn, which places requirements for table potatoes via Nedao, but is also willing to pay the grower a reasonable amount for this. This is why we won’t leave this segment any time soon. We are even looking at further growth, says Vincent. “In the case of onions we have a close collaboration with a grower, with whom we make annual agreements. We also grow a share for the free market. The first year planting onions we supply to Kesselaar.”
Soil as basis
The company has looked into organic cultivation, but in the end they made a different choice. “We made the choice to farm in a sustainable manner by allowing optimal production to go hand in hand with a cost leadership. You can only make money when your cost price per tonne is as low as possible. This is more difficult with organics, but we are trying to claim our method of working with a sustainability label,” says Vincent. “We are attentive to the soil and fertility, as it leads to a constant turnover. You can replace machines, tractors and people, but the land is sacred. You can't replace that.”
Whether the much talked about food shortage actually leads to more demand for his products is still a question according to Vincent. “In global agriculture we are seeing the yield rises move steadily up with the increasing demand. This is why we are investing in multiple year agreements. We want to work on this. Getting 0 cents for your onions one year and 25 cents the next isn’t sustainable!
Vincent has been at the head of the partnership for two and a half years now. “I started as a farmer, but have a very good company leader next to me who takes the operation side into account. So I am now more of a director.” He has one more mission he wants to speak about. “Sometimes as growers we forget to be proud of what we do. We have nothing to hide. Be good and tell about it!”
More information:
Koninklijke Maatschap de Wilhemlinapolder
Vincent Coolbergen
vc@kmwp.nl