Herbs
Marcel Janssen, De Gerdeneer
“Herbs are used sparingly in culinary delights” The gourmet segment loves herbs but in small volumes. In dishes put together using at least 25 steps, herbs are used sparingly, says Marcel Janssen of De Gerdeneer. He specialized in short-chain sales to the high-end catering industry but is slowly phasing that out. This is the third time Marcel is radically changing this Dutch company’s business model.
ly switching gears. What still seems manageable at 08:00 can look very different an hour later. “Sometimes, it changes by the minute. Don’t ask me how, but we always manage it in the end.”
De Gerdeneer’s herbs and edible flowers find their way to the most upmarket restaurants in Austria, Switzerland, Luxetween 1998 and 2013, Marcel grew the market. “At the peak, I had 80 species embourg, and parts of the Netherlands. lamb’s lettuce and produced vegetable of herbs and edible flowers. Almost all of These establishments make very high seeds on more than three hectares. When which I sold too.” demands on the product. Flavour is most the vegetable seed production market important, but there can also not be a degenerated into a price war, he switched Also important: being able to deliver fresh, single insect or blemish on the product. to herb cultivation, targeting the higher- every day. De Gerdeneer harvests its herbs Those requirements are not the only thing end restaurant segment. They want the to order and supplies restaurants directly that makes it a challenging market. Marbest quality and flavour. “I grow almost via short lines. The company is located cel: “The very high-level chefs are easy all my herbs from seed in the open ground. at Greenport Venlo, so it is a convenient customers; they just don’t take much. The It takes longer but produces the best fla- base of operations. “What I harvest is con- more well-known they are, the more they vour,” he begins. It took a lot of trial and sumed within 24 hours,” says Marcel. For appreciate your products, but the less they error to decide which varieties to grow. him and the team, that means shuffling use per dish. It’s truly delicate work, a leaf Marcel would invite chefs to his greenhou- through the greenhouse on their knees, here, a flower there…” se and, thus, kept improving his feel for harvesting herbs every day, and constant-
B
Polyculture Greenhouse polyculture involves a farming system that combines cultivating different fruits and vegetables with high-protein products like mushrooms, eggs, chicken, and fish. The waste from one product is the raw material for the other. This closed-loop sys-
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tem and limited input needs make this type of farm sustainable and efficient. The extensive diversity in the product range allows growers to offer consumers a complete vegetable, fruit, and protein-rich product assortment. By closing cycles, maximizing yields, and redu-
cing inputs, you could potentially achieve high returns. The focal point is to let nature do the work in efficiently-designed systems. Source: Stichting Innovatieve Glastuinbouw
