‘ Top - storey entrepreneurs ’ is what Harm Maters call the greenhouse builders and applied science companies that he has make up during the past sixteen years as chairman of AVAG . The sector is united in this society in which the competition can be felt up clearly . How does he look back at his presidency condition ?
As a grower ’s Word , Harm has always been necessitate in the sector . He attended the advanced horticultural school and subsequently studied economics and business administration at Erasmus University . For sixteen year he wreak at Royal FloraHolland in various positions , before he join Alcoa , an American aluminium manufacturer . There the connection was made with nursery construction , the sector that thereafter he would defend for 16 years .
Common interest“We all do compete , which is only cocksure . However , from metre to fourth dimension you have to think at a higher level and require yourself : what is in the interest of all of us ? That is what the collaborating companies are doing since the origination of AVAG in 1963 . The craft association originate with the goal to present the vulgar interest of greenhouse constructor . Suppliers of screen , light and H2O and vigor systems joined later . Most recently also logistics and harvest have been sum . “ We represent their interests with the government and set out the sector strategy in the field of quality , outside and innovation . That is why , for example , we are a appendage of VNO NCW and the Greenports and we regularly are see with the Ministry of Economic Affairs . ”
InternationalizationThanks to the programs of the Ministry of Economic Affairs , AVAG member made a serial of business trips to , among others , Turkey , China , Korea , México , Kenya and South Africa . “ We have achieved good termination . In Turkey , for representative , 20 entrepreneur got 25 million worth of assignments . A geothermic project was already get in touch in 2010 . At the clip , that was still in its early childhood in the Netherlands . "
The opening ofa projection in Turkeyin 2012 .
Scale enlargement and total solution“When I set out in 2003 , a considerable field was being built on in the Netherlands . There was a huge increase in scale in veg finish . The nursery went from an norm of five hectares to ten , twenty or thirty hectares . In addition , over the years , more and more attention was paid to all the equipment in the greenhouse , the logistics and the craw protection . More and more instruments are being used for indoor clime , air handling and energy saving . Semi - closed nursery were enter , just like Next multiplication Growing , with more and more weewee reuse and emission - free cultivation . That meant that there was no long talk of a greenhouse in itself , but of a total solution . We are now talking about an integrated growing organization . ”
InternationalizationIn the crisis year , say between 2010 and 2014 , the focus of the AVAG increasingly fit beyond the border . That is not a concurrence . “ A conscious choice was made to enter the earthly concern market and to work in it together . A number of members already had some export activities . Outside Europe , the demand for good finish systems increased . It is always good to have a worldwide market if you are in one pillar of the horticultural sphere . ” Internationalization was necessary to go . “ The crisis had a sizable effect . The demand in the Netherlands decreased by seventy percent . Our client , the growers , not only had to cope with an economical crisis , there was also an EHEC irruption with all its consequences . ”
Of the figure 130 technical horticultural supplier in the Netherlands , 70 are affiliated with AVAG . Striking here is that relatively few of these proceed belly-up during the crisis . " Strong company screen out themselves out " , Harm concludes . Harm on the stump during the Expo AgroAlimentaria in Mexico in 2013 .
Quality certificateThe HortiQ lineament label was developed in the same period . “ Maybe not the best clock time to develop such thing , but it became a good foundation to guarantee transparent tone . That reverse out to be crucial for the ever - increasing undertaking . The dealer are switch from growers to investors and they are asking for a certificate . ”
InnovationIn 2015 the Hortivation Foundation was localize up . This creation grants the licenses for the computing tool CASTA / greenhouse construction and a band of news is investigated , often in coaction with TNO and Wageningen University . before this yearthe go - ahead was givenfor the further development of the System Integration and Optimization Model ( SIOM ) , a software software in which the economic feasibleness of a project is calculated . “ An investor wants to screw how many kilo of love apple the to be built greenhouse takings . We can compute that . This tool also gain it potential to propose precisely which type of greenhouse and polish system fit the climate . ” When SIOM is quick , the participants receive custom rights in rally for their investment . “ It is important for the sector to work on with good standard . You are doing a service for both the Dutch supplier as well as a agriculturalist , wherever in the world . ”
A world to winHarm is plus about the future of the sector . " Opportunities for veggie polish are in the increment of the global population and that hold out for flower gardening as well as urbanisation will increase the need for ‘ green the city ’ . The personal incomes first increase in the upper layer of society . This creates a need for a broad range of a function assortment . Fresh food is completely popular and the health aspect spiel a major role . A sustainable cultivation , that is the future and our systems are perfectly suitable for that . We are active in more than a hundred body politic , but this applies everywhere . We have to work intemperately to accommodate ourselves to the local conditions . We are in a very good market , but we must carry on to think and modernize . There literally is a world to advance . "
Although Harm hashanded over the AVAG chairman ’s gavel to Annie van de Riet , he remains involved as an adviser to the trade association , HortiQ and Hortivation . In improver , he also has his own consultancy firm and is a supervisory film director at Ridder . " In any case I ’m not going to get bored . “For more information : AVAG[email protected]www.avag.nl
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