The Van der Weijden dynasty in Kudelstaart has been cultivate three generations of Phalaenopsis orchidaceous plant , according to Ludvig Svensson ’s clause . The current owner Lennard continues the insurance policy of his father Sjaak by growing as sustainably as potential . Phalaenopsis , even completely organic , has been on the market for about six twelvemonth . Thus , get ' unripened fingers ' is no longer enough to run a companionship like GreenBalanZ. With the acquisition of a breed company in 2017 , the sphere is 10 ha , and approximately 4 million Phalaenopsis go through freight forwarders to customer at home and afield every year .
Lennard studied Agricultural Economics in Wageningen and then cash in one’s chips to exercise at Rabobank . He joined the troupe 21 years ago . " It certainly helps to have a expert didactics , but it is not a guarantee of succeeder , " Lennard begins . " Through the ontogeny , the company has raise . I call back of myself as an enterpriser more than a grower . You have to have knowledge about many thing : It ’s about leaders , delegating well to your employees , and setting up a dependable marketing plan . You have to be run across amid the orchid fierceness . "
As with many other blossom and plant suppliers , COVID-19 put GreenBalanZ out of Libra . Fortunately for Van der Weijden , the pandemic not only brought a wad of cultivation , but bloom and plant also found their elbow room into people ’s menage .
betray bio Phalaenopsis is a challengeWhat does the consumer buy ? You would say in a world that produces more and more organic product customers also buy organically grown Phalaenopsis . The realness is unlike . GreenBalanZ now grow about 500.000 biological Phalaenopsis out of a total of 4 million .
" It is quite unmanageable to sell this production because it is a few euros more expensive than the schematic one . We lick with organic manure , which is why the plant produce a little obtuse . The cost price is , therefore , higher , and we take that into business relationship . What we have get word is to sell non - conventional and constituent orchidaceous plant in a shop . The consumer then often opts for the cheap variant . "
GreenBalanZ clearly states on the publicity material that the orchid have been organically rise , but the food market still rise and fall : " It is not grow fast , I am naturalistic about that . "
Heat and moth-eaten from the bottomFather Sjaak set out create cultivation as sustainable as possible decades ago . " My father had fun scout the harvest , so he had to use few chemical substance pesticides . He started step by measure , and now we only use organic crop protection , " says Lennard . Although it is important to do everything as green as possible , it must all come up out economically . " It ’s laborious to be green when you ’re crimson , I read somewhere . you could be very romantic in that , but you also have to keep running your line of work . "
Under its greenhouses , which bear a duple - covert package , are two outflow ( aquifers / ed . ) 300 meters apart . One is used to hive away rut and the other cold . " With heating plant ticker , we bring the heating system from the greenhouse to the hot spring in the summer . In the wintertime we heat the glasshouse with it . We stash away the cold in the other seed , which we use to chill the crop in the summertime , as the Phalaenopsis demand cold in the summertime to bloom . As a result , our gaseous state use of goods and services has been reduce by 1.1 million three-dimensional meters .
And he is not done yet : " In the context of energy saving , LED is a substantial option for old age to occur . We will also continue to make the packaging and trays more durable . Sustainability is not a container construct here : I want to leave the globe better for the next generation . It makes me feel good . "
