On Friday morning, the Netherlands' Minister for Nature and Nitrogen, Christianne Van der Wal, officially opened the Dutch pavilion at the Grüne Woche trade show in Berlin, Germany. She did so together with the German Minister of Agriculture, Cem Özdemir.
Unfortunately, his Dutch counterpart, Minister Piet Adema, could not attend the event as he had to rush back to the Netherlands for official business. The Grüne Woche is where German and international agriculture and agrifood sectors meet. Minister Van der Wal ended her tour at the Dutch fruit and vegetable sector's stand.
Nico van Vliet (Bayer) promoting Dutch tomatoes to Minister van der Wal.
Janine Luten, GroentenFruit Huis' director, briefly got to share some thoughts with the minister. Janine spoke about the transition to vegetable products, among other things. It benefits people and society as a whole to eat more vegetable products. Fruit and vegetables can solve the challenges Minister Van der Wal has to deal with regarding nitrogen. "Consumers are spoiled with, and are used to, a daily fresh and varied fruit and vegetable supply," Janine says.
Surprised
Minister Van der Wal was surprised to hear that 70% of the vegetables people in the Netherlands consume are grown locally. Twenty-five percent comes from other European Union countries, and the remaining five percent from outside the EU. The Netherlands plays an important role in Europe in fruit and vegetable import and sales.
When it comes to fruit, only 25% that the people in the Netherlands consume, is local. Ten percent comes from European countries, and 65% from non-EU countries. Unsurprising, given that bananas are the most bought fruits in the Netherlands.
Solution
That formed a nice bridge to bring imports' importance to the minister's attention. "Imports are often underemphasized in the Netherlands, while producing fruits and vegetables in developing countries could provide a solution to earning a living wage. The Netherlands is great at bringing supply and demand together. The fruit and vegetable sector can, thus, partly help solve the migration problem," explains Janine.
Janine Luten van GroentenFruit Huis (right) with Dutch MP Pieter Grinwis, Tjeerd De Groot, Thom Van Campen, and Laura Bromet.
Non-processed, fresh chain
She also drew attention to the unprocessed, fresh produce chain. This can provide a solution to the challenges under discussion for the Netherlands' new Agricultural Agreement. Many parties from the horticultural cluster get together to discuss topics affecting the entire sector. These meetings are set up from the perspective of primary production. Much happens to a product before it ends up on consumers' plates.
GroentenFruit Huis' 300 members have long done those activities passionately and professionally. Janine cordially invited Minister Van der Wal for a working visit. Then she can see the fresh produce chain functions in action and what steps are being taken regarding sustainability. The trading companies' significant contribution to supplying fresh, healthy, sustainably produced fruit and vegetable to the Netherlands and beyond will also become apparent.
It is expected that, in the next ten days, 500,000 people will visit Grüne Woche. A team of Dutch companies and organizations' representatives will be on hand daily to share the message of the Dutch fruit and vegetable sector. It matches the Netherlands Pavilion's 'Lecker von nebenan' (roughly translates to 'Tasty from your neighbor') overall theme.
Source: GroentenFruit Huis