This year, the Dutch radish farm, Daily Fresh Radish, turns 30. "Much has changed in those years, and a lot more is going to change," says John Grootscholten. "In the coming years, we'll focus on further sustainability. Quality and reliability were and remain important. Personnel has also become more crucial. Being a good employer is vital and adds value to your business. It means being surrounded by good people to get the job done together every day."
But, other things are changing rapidly. "There's water catchment, sustainable cultivation using less water, and fertilizers and chemical crop protection agents. And the integration of digitization and robotization, software-technical innovations, and developments. Plus, saving energy, solar panels on the roof, and water purification, disinfection, and recirculation. Added to that, we have to deal with the sharply rising costs, which is a significant challenge," lists John.
"Over the years, a healthy lifestyle has garnered an increasing amount of attention. We're delighted about that because we happen to grow a great, healthy product. We'd like to contribute to reducing the pressure on healthcare by getting people to eat a little healthier. Our doors are, therefore, always open to everyone to promote this. They can come and take, for example, boat trips, walking, and cycling tours, or visit the greenhouse directly. We also sponsor products and thus, support charity events. And we do all this passionately."
The radish range has expanded considerably over those years. It now consists of red, white, white pointed, and mixed colors in bushels or even icicles. "Red radishes are and will remain our main product, and those are sown every day throughout the year. There's a clear increase in demand for specialties, but we sow, grow, and bunch them purely to order," explains John.
"We can offer plenty of possibilities, as long as we know in time. Say someone wants mixed bunches of red, white, and purple radishes or mixed bunches of red and white radishes. We'll then sow them next to each other and then grow, bunch, and package the agreed quantities to size. That creates something beautiful."
"Should our clients want to truly focus on supermarkets across Europe, something grand - long-term for everyone in the chain - could come of that. But that's the hardest part of the whole thing. We're not in contact with the supermarkets but with the brokers and exporters. These people then negotiate with the supermarket buyers. These three links actually need to work together to get something nice off the ground," the radish grower continues.
"We sometimes suddenly get a request for X amount of mixed radish colors for delivery tomorrow. But if we haven't sown them, we can't bunch them, so we can't deliver them."
"Conversely, if we sow the radishes willy-nilly and don't get buyers, we have to dump them. That's also not desirable and, moreover, a crying shame - radish farming is expensive. Generally, collaboration is the key to success. Talking, thinking, and planning together and then sowing and reaping together," concludes John.
For more information:
Daily Fresh Radish
25 Hoge Geest
2671 LK, Naaldwijk, NL
Sales: Rik Hofland: +31 (0) 641 624 211
John: +31 (0) 651 592 838
Dennis: +31 (0) 654 244 414
Email: John@dailyfreshradish.nl
Website: www.dailyfreshradish.nl