“We have a buyer for everything we grow”

With slightly less than 15 per cent organic area and about 100 organic growers, Cooperative Producer’s association De Schakel is a major player on the organic market. In the 1980s, a step that was revolutionary at the time was taken by only growing demand-oriented. A strategy that wasn’t deviated from in the production of organic vegetables in the late 1990s either.

Over the years, interest in demand-oriented production increased even more, which resulted in the current producer association. In 2004, De Schakel was officially founded. The producer’s association has more than 500 growers. Besides organic vegetables, they also grow conventional outdoor vegetables. The majority of the vegetables grown is meant for the processing industry.

“The situation in the 80s is naturally very different from that of today,” says Cees Geven, manager of subsidiary De Schakel Contractteelt. “In those days, there were (many) more vegetable processors than nowadays. The consumer market for tinned foods has been structurally decreasing for years. The market for frozen vegetables has grown, and remains stable now. In the meantime, scaling up has continued for the factories. There are now fewer but larger companies with higher processing capacity. This requires a larger supply capacity that meets the larger production units. Larger plots mean higher yields.”

A large part of De Schakel’s vegetables is processed into tinned and frozen products. The organic area for this segment in particular is growing rapidly. It’s even growing quicker than the area of fresh organic vegetables that end up in supermarkets unprocessed. Cees: “The organic sector is very good at marketing in my opinion, and tinned organic food and organic frozen products are also profiting from this.”

Cees: “The same quality requirements are in place for processed organic vegetables as for fresh products. The benefit of organic frozen products and tinned organic food is that no quality loss occurs due to a possible lower turnover rate in shops. Packed vegetables can also feature messages on the packaging, which is a marketing advantage. With the production of fresh vegetables, the vegetables end up in supermarkets right after harvesting. What you see is what you get, and a possible lower turnover rate isn’t good for the freshness of the product.”

The smaller price difference between organic tinned foods and organic frozen products compared to conventional tinned and frozen products also benefits from increasing demand for organic tinned and organic frozen vegetables. Cees: “The price difference between fresh organic vegetables and conventional vegetables in shops is much larger. Processed vegetables have additional processing costs for both conventional and organic.” Consumers are therefore more likely to choose a jar or box of organic carrots or organic frozen spinach than compared to conventional vegetables and much more expensive fresh organic vegetables.

Weather sensitivity is also affecting organic tinned foods and organic frozen products. Cees: “The production of these products is demand-oriented with fixed prices. Higher or lower yields for (fresh) vegetables immediately affects prices.”

‘Stronger together’ is the producer’s association’s motto. But how do producers actually benefit from such an association? Cees: “Because of our size, we can innovate more and join our forces during price negotiations. Because of our size, we’re also an interesting supplier for buyers covering multiple regions. When a harvest is lost due to bad weather, we can go to a different region.”

This spreading has even crossed borders. Growers from Belgium and Germany have also joined De Schakel. To involve growers from these countries with the association, region commissions have been set up to keep the distance to the association’s board of directors limited.

Demand-oriented contract production requires a careful process from sowing to supplying. The winter period is crucial in this process. Cees: “In winter, we enter into talks with the manufacturer to estimate his demand for product. When does the manufacturer want the product? In what shape? How much? At the same time, our other colleagues are talking to growers to guess his wishes and to see which plots are suitable for which productions.”

It’s then important to estimate carefully up to the week when the harvest will be finished. Demand and supply are carefully adjusted to each other. Cees: “Because we make sure supply and demand are in balance, the sales risk of the grower drops. The growers know they can sell their product at a predetermined price no matter what.”

Despite precise estimates, overproduction sometimes occurs. After all, production continues to be a natural process. Cees: “In contracts with buyers, we often negotiate a solidarity measure, so that growers also get good compensation when there’s an overproduction.”

Just as with conventional productions, demand for organic products is leading for De Schakel when deciding to grow (new) organic vegetables. Cees: “We’re actually seeing that when demand for certain conventional products increases, demand for that same product but organic also increases. When we started growing organic herbs and organic pumpkins in 2016, it had everything to do with increasing demand. It can also be that a customer asks if we could supply celeriac from organic production in addition to his regular peas. In any case, factories are becoming more and more interested in organic vegetables.”

De Schakel is also trying to boost organic production. Growers are encouraged to start growing organically. However, a balance between supply and demand should be maintained. In the meantime, De Schakel is doing its best by means of certification, for instance, to take steps. De Schakel offers Veldleeuwerik and products that meet On the way to PlanetProof, formerly known as Milieukeur. They’ve also switched to the ERP system, so that customers gain transparency about the origin of the products they buy as much as possible.

De Schakel doesn’t have its own quality hallmark yet. Cees: “About 15 years ago, we started with what was then Milieukeur, but that soon died down. In 2017, we had a new start with On the way to PlanetProof. When demand for organic products requires it, De Schakel will help growers when necessary to meet necessary certifications. We use our production guides for that.”

The organic segment is lacking greenhouse production (as is the conventional segment). According to Cees, adding organic greenhouse vegetables isn’t on the agenda for now. “I think the area of fresh organic vegetable production will increase first, but never say never. However, for fresh vegetables we’re talking about smaller amounts than for processing industry. It would be about pallets and crates rather than full lorries.”

Cooperative Producer’s Association De Schakel

Cees Geven