Also during these roily St. Elmo’s fire times it is dear to commemorate day of remembrance . On March 21 it was precisely one yr ago that substratum manufacturer Agaris exchanged the name Greenyard Horticulture for the new one which literally think ‘ may you turn ’ .
There were not many changes , but with the experience from the past that has been arrive at and with the strong retentive - terminus stockholder Straco in support , the goal is to continue to rise .
Despite the fact that everything else remained the same , the whole name modification was a great project , says Stefaan Vandaele , chief executive officer of Agaris . “ The team can be gallant of how everything has turn out . The name was launched and has been well receive now , both by client , consumer and here internally . When answer the speech sound , announcing the name Agaris is now business as usual . ”
The latter is also the case for Stefaan . He also experienced the earlier company name calling Peltracom and Greenyard Horticulture . With fifteen geezerhood of experience in the industry , he has seen it all . “ In the sphere they sometimes say that pot soil not only aim under your nail , but also under your skin . I think I can say that it also apply to me ” , Stefaan chuckles . With his experience , he is not only the right person to bear a true course in the current crisis , but also once in a while to take care back and forward . Have you never been afraid that another name alteration in a relatively brusque time could be detrimental to the recognizability in the market?“No , although a name change is of course a risk . But in this case , only the name has commute , the multitude and the table service have stay the same . The customers hardly noticed it . We still have the same team and moreover the company is really rooted in our long chronicle that dates back to the early 1970s . From a pocket-size ship’s company we have grow into an autonomous radical with 13 factories in Europe and more than 800 employee who together provide 3 million cubic metre of spring up media on an yearly basis . ”
What are the goal for the coming year ? More export destinations and more own substratum production?“We definitely want to keep to develop sustainably . We presently export to 65 countries worldwide , but we perfectly want to expand that turn to part where we currently see a fate of development , such as Asia , Latin America and Africa .
But we also see a fortune of phylogenesis in traditional markets , be it ornamental polish , ( nursery ) veggie refinement , mushroom cloud finish or newfangled form of cultivation such as urban farming or erect land .
To provide all those professional markets , but also the consumer markets in which we are a major supplier , with a diverse assortment of potting soil under private recording label and under the Agrofino trade name name , many cubic meters and also many dissimilar raw material are required . Peat is still a very significant raw material , and we are lofty of being able to carrythe Chain of Custody RPP certificate on all peat products . All the peat that we apply is extracted responsibly .
In the lag we have also increasingly overcome the various other raw materials , such as green compost or barque , whereby we are powerfully integrated vertically in the chain .
We check eighty percent of the sore material that we use , twenty percent is purchased in the market . By have a pile under our own management , we vouch supply foregone conclusion and we can also conserve a constant quality , which is significant for natural product . Peat ship can freeze in the Baltic in winter , and also coconut , in which we function with collaborator , is weather condition - sensitive , as has been show in recent old age .
For that reason , you see more and more more vertical integration in the substrate market , although I do not believe that one hundred percent vertical desegregation is necessary . Eighty percent is our guideline , because you still want to keep in skin senses with what is lead on in the market . From meter to time you also desire to be able to seize opportunity and if affair are going badly in your own chain , you need partners that you’re able to count on , even if you do n’t always work together .
To give an example : We use a little bite of German peat in some products . That is too small to have everything under your own management , so you have to work together . in reality , just like in the fresh produce market place , where increasingly more is being sold on contract , but there is always room for a free market because of the opportunities that are still present there . ”
How do you insure optimum tone where the raw materials are not managed in - house?“We make clean agreement with the mate with whom we go , not only about quality and security of supplying , but also about sustainability , on a societal level and how personnel department is address .
We invariably deport out audits at spouse and at our fix to check the quality of the in the raw materials and everything that is involved . Because of the fact that we are manage with natural ware , we also opt for a multi - product scheme . Each specific raw material has its own tone that you want to use optimally in a sound intermixture .
Also from a sustainability distributor point of scene it is good to habituate different raw material . In addition , there may be some born variation in the quality of a certain natural material , whereby you could adjust the mixed bag through the multi - product strategy , so that the lineament of the death Cartesian product is always incessant . agriculturalist work on on full calculator - controlled party , so optimal substrate is of increase importance , and you have to be able-bodied to incessantly adjust the composition . ”
Where do you see the most growth ? In floriculture , greenhouse vegetables , soft fruit , arboriculture , mushrooms ? And what is currently the largest mart / largest segment?“We have traditionally grown well in floriculture with a potent presence from way back in the tree nursery sector . And also in bedding plants , although there is little growth left in this sector . However , the tree diagram glasshouse sphere is really booming and the Modern European Green Deal , with tree planting plans , is in their favor . you could also see that houseplants are doing well .
Other growth markets include mushroom-shaped cloud substratum , which is shift from West to East and also to newfangled markets such as urban and erect husbandry . If I front at our Mary Leontyne Price tilt for 2020 , you will see only 3 production in the top 20 that are honest-to-god than 3 old age . A lot of product are Modern and respond to growth grocery store . Roof gardens were almost non - existing five age ago , but it is already a significant part of our business today . ”
What persona does the grower trifle in the ontogenesis of Modern mature media?“The client is increasingly becoming more professional , so we are unceasingly developing new growing medium in quislingism with them . We now also produce press potting soil and we see opportunities now that the cultivation is progressively coming from the unresolved field . Before a newfangled growth mass medium is quick for practice , it is first extensively tested by our enquiry and development team . The first gradation here is forcible - chemical research lab test and after that we test together with mental test center . The agriculturist will also conjoin in at a later stage .
In the past , we also had our own demonstration greenhouse as an medium step . We removed that step , but we are still testing in our own light-emitting diode growth room . scale leaf examination at the cultivator works just as well . Growers have the experience and prefer to see with their own eyes in a test street corner in their own greenhouse what precisely happen with a newfangled growth medium and how the craw reacts .
cultivator are really open to screen with us , we see . Confidence is there , also in the consumer securities industry in which we go through the same cognitive operation with retail . ”
How does Agaris view certifications ? There seem to be more and more , so is n’t that a danger for the consumer / grower who sometimes seems to lose track because of the vaporous phone number of certificates?“It is slowly becoming quite a lot , probably also too many . For example , we ourselves make a lot of potting grime for retail under private labels . Each retail merchant issue forth with their own specifications full of rules and requirement and often also a credentials dodge .
You have labels that focalise on quality such as RHP , GMP , ISO , sustainability label such as RPP , MPS , Ecolabel and also social labels and many more . We have audit almost every week from all kinds of recording label and way and it is a full - sentence job to supervise and steer everything in the correct commission .
Although there are now a lot of them , all label also have a positive effect on manufacturer like us . By integrating all labels and requirement into our own character arrangement , we can keep raising the streak . However , it is difficult for consumer and growers to estimate the economic value of all those label .
Our character here is to commune as well as possible , in which it is important to show and explicate which solutions we offer . That is more important than the commercial economic value of a logo or label on a packaging . The story has to be presented well and that does n’t require heaps of logos or labels . A full package with a skillful story is sufficient . ”
For more entropy : Agaris Belgium nvSkaldenstraat 7a9042 Gent , BelgiumT : +32 ( 0)9 218 03 30F : +32 ( 0)9 218 03 31www.agaris.eu[email protected ]
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