Teboza is turning 80. This company grows asparagus in the Netherlands, and for a good decade now in Spain. What started as a mixed crop farm had by the 1980s gradually evolved into solely cultivating strawberries and asparagus. In 2001, Will Teeuwen, the family business's third generation, decided to ditch the summer strawberries, too, and go all out on the 'white gold'. "Few companies focus entirely on asparagus. We don't necessarily have to be the biggest, but we do want to be the best. Hence the exclusivity," begins Will.
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Hello Will. Congratulations on your asparagus company's 80th anniversary. When and how did the business begin?
My grandmother Marie Van Lier grew up here in [the Dutch village of] Helden, where our company is still located. She comes from a family of farmers. Her father died young, and there was no one to take over the farm, so when my grandfather Lodewijk Teeuwen married my grandmother, he moved into 15 Zandberg to manage the farm. Asparagus was already an important crop at the time – it was the first product in the spring that earned money – but it wasn't the only activity. They raised cattle, had fruit trees, and harvested open-field vegetables every year. After WWII, it was a mixed farm that provided just about all food products. Asparagus is labor-intensive, so it wasn't the favorite crop. That labor issue is still challenging for the sector to this day.
Did you work at the company as a boy?
My father took over the business early, in 1969. I was born that same year and remember helping out at the age of 10 already. In the spring, that meant seven days a week. In the morning, we'd harvest the asparagus, eat a quick sandwich in the afternoon, sort the asparagus, and then go to the auction. Back then, in the 80s, the company was, of course, still small-scale compared to today's standards. Anyone with five hectares was considered full-time and could make a good living.
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Does a modern asparagus farm have to be five times that size to be profitable?
Well, the dynamics are entirely different. Until around 2015, virtually every asparagus grower made money. That's no longer the case. Now, there's much more organization involved, and you must invest significantly in efficiency to maintain margins. Asparagus isn't the easiest crop to grow. Specialization is almost a requirement, but it also pays off. The recent decline in acreage is mainly due to not everyone automatically being profitable with this crop. The time has passed when asparagus growers could survive by roping in the whole family to help in the field and during harvesting. Some find that a shame because, in that sense, this product's charm seems to have faded somewhat.
When did the acreage start shrinking?
In the past, horticulture hasn't always produced for the market; perhaps it still doesn't. Many growers only considered how much of a particular product they could plant and harvest themselves. The asparagus supply, thus, outgrew market demand about ten years ago. Prices fell, and acreage shrank to the point that now, demand outweighs supply. Unlike the acreage, consumption has risen sharply in recent years, partly because supermarkets have had major promotions every season.
But because it costs so much to resume cultivation - to make an asparagus farm profitable, you need a specific scale and expensive machinery right away - I doubt the acreage will reach its previous level anytime soon. Also, succession and the climate are undeniable problems, as are other factors that put pressure on yields, such as ever-increasing environmental standards and certification requirements.
An asparagus plant only comes into full production by year three, not so?
Yes. Plant a seedling now, and you'll have a small harvest next year, let's say, a quarter of the production capacity. You'll be at 70% the following year, and only in the third year will you have a full harvest. It takes years before you start earning anything.
I assume you, then, replace a given percentage of your acreage with new plants annually?
A field lasts about a decade, so to keep up, we replace 15% of the acreage every year. Teboza is also still in its growth phase, so we plant more than just replacement asparagus plants. The current focus is on an early crop. The sooner customers have a quality product, the smoother sales will be when the large volumes become available. Plus, it's easier to work with a steady supply, although, as growers, we can never fully control that. The weather remains the deciding factor. Sometimes it's too cold; sometimes too wet.
Spain, for example, where asparagus is also grown, has had plenty of rain this year, so far. Does Teboza farm there?
We manage two locations in Andalusia where we cultivate only outdoor green asparagus. Normally, harvesting starts in February, but this year, that's been pushed back slightly due to the persistent rain. From 2026, we plan to harvest in Spain from February to October. That's eight months. We bridge the other four months, and when the Spanish product cannot meet all the demand, with overseas imports, mainly from Mexico and Peru.
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Green asparagus is rapidly gaining popularity and is a product with which we keep expanding. I suspect within our company, its sales will overtake those of white asparagus within five years. One of the future challenges will be to meet the growing demand for particularly green asparagus, because Europe's acreage isn't likely to increase. Spain has had sufficient water this year, but who knows if there will be enough precipitation in the coming years to fill their water reservoirs.
Why do you think green asparagus sales could outgrow white?
People eat green asparagus year-round, and it's versatile. You increasingly find it in, say, salads. Even though you can import white asparagus from South America or South Africa outside of the Dutch season, consumers embrace that as a spring product. That's nice; I think we should cherish that seasonality. We have white asparagus available for four to five months, from late January from the greenhouse until the end of June, with the last open field product.
I've read that labor is an issue in Spain, too. Does that affect you?
In Spain, where they employ not only locals but also labor migrants, wages are rising. That's quite problematic. Also, finding good soil there is even harder than in the Netherlands. Put it this way: in our line of work, you sometimes find yourself at a loss. Challenges, further compounded this year by the heavy rains and delayed harvest, abound. We're nevertheless growing fast in Spain and firmly believe those investments will pay off soon.
Local growers visiting our plots prove things are moving in the right direction. They see how we work and ask if they can grow for us. We have the necessary people on hand who can help them get started, so our answer is often affirmative. Still, we ensure we do three-quarters of the cultivation ourselves. Having control over the process is still the best guarantee of continuity and quality.
Is your Dutch cultivation divided in that way, too?
We have a loyal group of growers in this region of the Netherlands, usually from mixed farms, who supply us. That's been the case for almost 20 years, and it works great. But indeed, here, too, we do most of the cultivation ourselves.
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You mentioned the labor issue. Do you use a selective harvester?
We do. Though I must say, it still requires some fine-tuning. When we begin using it depends on this year's results. But it must be soon because robotization is a must these days. People are increasingly suspicious of migrant workers, and the wage pressure is high. The existing harvesters, nonetheless, still need plenty of hands.
Are you looking to gain efficiency elsewhere?
We have to do something every year because costs keep rising. We plan on spending a pretty penny on an even more advanced optical sorting machine that will increase capacity and quality. Yet many packaging tasks, like neatly placing the asparagus straight on the conveyor belt, are done manually. Automation doesn't yet offer a solution for that.
Do you package your asparagus in paper or plastic?
We primarily supply Dutch and Belgian retailers, and the Dutch prefer flowpacks, while the Belgians want their asparagus in a small tray. Asparagus has a high moisture content, so uncoated cardboard containers aren't an option. I understand the discussion about packaging material usage, but that packaging is what reduces waste. Offer asparagus loose in stores, and you end up throwing a third away. That has an environmental cost because you must then produce a third more to meet the demand. I get the feeling politicians are making decisions over our heads on the whole packaging issue without sufficiently involving the sector.
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What are Teboza's biggest challenges at present?
We've already touched on those: rising costs, climate change, and policy. Number one is the cost increase, particularly wages and input prices. Those materials must be manufactured, and every sector struggles with rising labor costs. But it isn't easy to pass on those increases. Number two is the climate, something I'd not have mentioned four years ago. I'm talking about the extreme weather that now hits every country. It forces us to spread our risks by focusing on multiple growing areas and different cultivation techniques.
And number three is the lack of coherence and direction in policy. The government seems more concerned with trivial matters than what's genuinely important for the horticultural sector. Hopefully, there will be a turnaround in that because, for business people, nothing's as disruptive as fickle policy.
This article was previously published in Primeur May 2025. Click here for the link to the entire edition.
For more information:
Will Teeuwen
Teboza
Tel: +31 (0) 77 307 1444
[email protected]
www.teboza.com
