"Up till last summer, the old greenhouse had done nearly thirty cultivation rounds, which means that, according to present standards for sweet pepper cultivation, the greenhouse was about done", says Sofinus van der Burg from Van der Burg Peppers from Est in Gelderland province. "Especially the technical installations were reaching their expiration and so it was questionable whether to still invest money in it. We thought it would be better to do it right in one go and so the demolition was started in August."
Knijnenburg-Zwirs started demolishing in mid-August
The old greenhouse was still working stand-alone with its own boiler, Sofinus explains. "We actually see the rebuilding as a piece of extension, because we have another 9.5 hectares of greenhouse space at a distance of just over half a kilometer. The soon to be completely renewed greenhouse will be connected to that larger greenhouse. In that way, both greenhouses will soon be running on one heat-generating installation and also the CO2 supply and the water supply will be linked. The latter was already the case with the old greenhouse."
The first steel could be assembled by mid-September.
The new greenhouse, which is being built by Van Amelsvoort Kassenbouw, will be 6.5 meters high and will have 1.67 meters wide glass. "This glass is larger and lighter compared to the old greenhouse, which means that we will have more light and more air volume. The new greenhouse will be more efficient, also regarding labor, but above all an increase in production."
Holland Scherming was busy at the end of October with installing the screen installation.
To make the connection between both cultivation locations, pipes were laid under the road. The peppers from the 2.3 hectares greenhouse are transported, as before, by road. "We transport the peppers we harvest to the larger greenhouse with the sorting and packaging warehouse. There the peppers are placed on internal transport, automatically enter the warehouse and then leave the warehouse fully processed."
Twelve weeks after the demolition the construction is making good progress.
Continuous quality guaranteed
If everything goes according to plan, the plants will go into the greenhouse on 5 December. The crop change, which in mid-November is in full swing, is by then completed. And in the other greenhouse of 9.5 hectares, two blocks will have been planted by then.
The peppers are sold under the So Unique label, which was started in 2016 by the brothers Van der Burg and Geert Bouten. "With So Unique, it is going exceptionally well. In the meantime we now have a number of fixed positions with customers and we are working on some more."
The red peppers are cultivated by the Van der Burg brothers, while the other growers are responsible for green and orange. "Our motto is 'know what you buy', with which we try to guarantee a continuous quality to the customer. With the renewed greenhouse we once more make a quality improvement and guarantee the quality of the product even more."
For more infomation: 
Van der Burg Paprika’s
vanderburgpaprikas@signet.nl
Sofinus van der Burg
+ 31 (0)6 19 42 83 33
So Unique 
www.so-unique.nl
info@so-unique.nl