On Thursday, 5 October, Rien and Arthur Paans from Verfru Europe S.L. will celebrate, because on that day, they will have been established in Spain for ten years. “When adding the years in the Netherlands before that, we’ll have been active for 16 years, and mostly with the same growers we started with,” Rien says. “Two of those companies have been taken over by sons of the families by now, which is something that is occurring less and less in recent years. Growers no longer have successors, because the children decide not to enter the agrarian sector.”
Arthur and Rien Paans
“Yet we see our system – bringing together customers and growers and creating combined cultivation programmes – works well, and thanks to this system it’s fairly easy to get new customers and growers,” continues Rien’s son Arthur, who joined the company after the rapid growth in the early years to take over part of the activities (inspections from planting to harvesting). “Our sphere of activity is quite large by now, from Tarragona to Zaragoza and Murcia. We therefore make plenty of kilometres to see, guide and follow everything.”
“The first pumpkin harvest – butternut squash – is done now, so those are on the market, and the first broccoli has also been shipped. Early for the time of year, but this is a result of quality problems with Dutch broccoli. Planting for the coming season is in full swing for broccoli, cauliflower, oxheart cabbage, kale, endive, frisée lettuce and fennel,” Rien continues. “We start harvesting these products mid-November, and will continue doing so until about mid-May. From mid-May to late June, leek will follow, which is planted mid-January.”
“Naturally all of our growers have been GlobalGAP certified, but new this year is that seven of our growers are now Milieukeur certified. Milieukeur is the Dutch environmental quality label. These growers and Verfru Europe have been selected by Hessing Supervers from Zwaagdijk, the Netherlands, to grow exclusively for Hessing Supervers. Right now we have cauliflower, kale and oxheart cabbage available with Milieukeur. We are working on also getting our pumpkins Milieukeur certified, so that we can start offering these next year. Naturally it’s possible to get even more products certified on request,” Arthur says. “Considering our years of cooperation with both buyers and growers, we’re facing the future with positivity.”
For more information:
Verfru Europe
Rien Paans
+34 669 221 480
rien@verfrueurope.com
Arthur Paans
+34 639 546 103
arthur@verfrueurope.com
facturas@verfrueurope.com