With more than 190 members joined, growers’ association Best of Four offers a wide range of greenhouse and outdoor fruit and vegetables. Manager Ton van Dalen talked to us about the shift to soft fruit, the increase of illuminated cultivation, and the importance of digitisation.
Best of Four was founded in 2010 when growers’ cooperatives Brassica Group, Tradition, Unistar and WestVeg merged. Right now, 194 growers are members of the growers’ association. Combined, they supply a wide range of greenhouse vegetables, outdoor vegetables and top fruit. As of recently, greenhouse soft fruit has been expanding considerably. “The vegetables still account for most of the revenue. Within greenhouse vegetables, tomatoes are the most important product in total.” manager Ton van Dalen said.
Although the growers’ group and the areas within Best of Four remain fairly stable, the manager sees plenty of developments within the greenhouse vegetable segments. Firstly, he mentions that players choose to grow two or three varieties instead of one more often, including specialities. Additionally, he sees an increase in illuminated cultivation. “We’ve noticed more demand for year-round suppliers. Especially after a winter such as last year’s, with shortages from Spain, it becomes obvious that need increases. In coming months, we hope to further expand the illuminated cultivation with our growers.” He says there’s quite a bit of illumination in tomatoes, and an increase can also be seen in the cultivation of cucumbers. “With illuminated cultivation, we can supply the same product year-round, and that’s what the customer wants: reliability and continuity.”
Importance of blackberries and strawberries increasing in product supply
In recent years, a shift has become obvious in the cultivation for soft fruit within the growers’ association. A number of their growers, especially in the south of the Netherlands, have chosen to switch to strawberries and blackberries. “Especially slightly smaller agricultural greenhouse companies of a few hectares that aren’t equal to bulk production have switched. Choosing to switch to soft fruit makes quite a bit of sense then.” The soft fruit area currently amounts to about 40 hectares under glass. Ton expects this segment to expand even more in coming years. “As long as there’s a market and the company can fill it, soft fruit definitely offers us opportunities.”
The members of Best of Four are distributed throughout the Netherlands and Belgium. Each grower is assured of guaranteed sales at individual market prices. “This makes us distinctive in the branch. We think quality should be rewarded,” Ton explains. “In principle, every member can sign up with us, on condition that there’s a market for it, and the requirements are met. For example, each grower has a complete obligation to deliver to the growers’ association. However, a share may be used for own home sales. On the other hand, we offer guaranteed sales at fair compensation. We’ve noticed some growers are more involved than others. It is therefore very important to regularly visit growers and to organise product meetings. Moreover, we work in as transparent a way as possible, without losing the privacy of the individual growers, naturally, so that we can always be reached by them.”
Best of Four only sells products from their own members. These are supplied to distributors. For each client, the growers with the product supply that best meets their demand is selected, and the products are supplied in specific sizes or packaging, if necessary. “Purchasing and price agreements are custom-made with these companies. With mercantile houses, at least 60 to 70 per cent is fixed. Programmes cannot be avoided if that’s the case. We’re only on the free market at the start of the season.” The majority of the products is meant for export. Northern Europe is still the largest sales markets with countries such as Germany, the UK and Scandinavia as most important destinations. Ton mentions that Southern European countries are also on the rise.
China promising destination farther away
Destinations farther away are the US and China, where more bell peppers will be sent again this season. “Together with other growers’ associations, the government and other organisations including the GroentenFruit Huis, we are part of the FVO (the Federation Vegetable Organisation). Last year, the first shipment was sent to China, and results are promising, although it will take a while before we can start selling serious volumes. We’re hoping to send larger and larger volumes to China in coming years. We mostly focus on this with the higher segment.” Other Asian countries such as Japan and various countries in the Middle East are important for selling the Dutch product, according to Ton.
The growing greenhouse vegetable cultivation in Germany and the UK isn’t worrying him. Although German retail prefers domestic product, the country is, by its own admission, far from self-supporting. The same is true for the UK. They will also continue to have demand for Dutch product. “Whether the consequences of the Brexit will have any meaning? Any border formalities might cause barriers, as well as the value of the pound, but we don’t expect trade to disappear. People have to eat.” The competition with Spain is something to bear in mind. Ton has noticed year-round production by means of illuminated cultivation is high on the agenda. “If we could supply volume year-round, we’d be much stronger.”
Transparency and clarity
“The season for illuminated tomatoes started well, partially thanks to smaller supply from Spain as a result of bad weather. The non-illuminated season just started well, too,” Ton says mid-April. “Cucumbers also started well, but prices started slumping from week 12. These recovered somewhat towards Easter. Aubergine is a tricky story this season. There’s much competition from Spain, and we’ll just have to wait and see what will happen this year. Because of a gap in the setting in bell peppers, this season will have fluctuating prices. It’s expected that this will continue throughout the season. Although we’ll always be dependent on productions in other countries, we’d like to provide more guidance in this, so that growers would also know what they’re dealing with. The game of demand and supply will always be tricky, but by providing more insight into the market, growers would face surprises less often.”
To create more transparency and clarity, Best of Four was first planning to sell product digitally. To that end, the growers’ association developed the platform Bright Trading. A platform where demand and supply of fruit and vegetables meet in an open and transparent manner, and where mercantile houses and growers can meet each other online. “Unfortunately, this didn’t quite get off the ground. Although we think a digital market place provides in a need, the market appears to not be ready for it yet. In top fruit, for example, it does work. We also use this for selling apples and pears. Growers want to know what’s happening on the market, and how prices are made, but we also want to get much more insight into this. Because that’s when you, and the growers, can bear that in mind. The plan is still ready for use. Perhaps we can become active in this in future.”
Digitisation more important than product
Ton says the growers’ association has chosen a different strategy. “We want to know where the product goes. When we keep ourselves informed about the final destinations of our products, it becomes possible to even better anticipate the market’s need.” Best of Four state that it is going to devote itself to this even more in the coming years. Other points that are high on the agenda, are sustainability and an increase in consumption.
“As the Dutch sector, we have gold on our hands. Our products are safe, reliable and healthy. I’m thinking of a sector-wide cooperation with, for example, health insurers and sports clubs. There are more and more good initiatives that promote the consumption of fruit and vegetables and we would like to contribute to this. Furthermore, digitisation is also the order of the day. I think this might become even more important than the actual product. All information regarding location, pesticides, brix, but also, for example, nutrients must be made clear. As a sector, we still have to make great strides in this. It needs standardisation and that costs much time and money.”
“As the Dutch sector, we have gold on our hands. Our products are safe, reliable and healthy. I’m thinking of a sector-wide cooperation with, for example, health insurers and sports clubs. There are more and more good initiatives that promote the consumption of fruit and vegetables and we would like to contribute to this. Furthermore, digitisation is also the order of the day. I think this might become even more important than the actual product. All information regarding location, pesticides, brix, but also, for example, nutrients must be made clear. As a sector, we still have to make great strides in this. It needs standardisation and that costs much time and money.”
For more information, please contact:
Ton van Dalen