VDH: Can you tell us something about yourself: education, profession?
CB: Our father has been a tomato grower since the seventies. Davy graduated from the Saint Germain and Laye horticultural school in Paris. Tomato grower since 2000. Vincent has a Master’s in Agriculture (Purpan, Toulouse). Specialisation Plant Physiology, (Wageningen University, The Netherlands). Tomato adviser since 2000 (Substratus, Lycopersicon group).
VDH: When was your company founded and how many employees does it have?
CB: The company started in 2007 with 5 employees and now has 30 employees.
VDH: Which crops do you grow?
CB:We grow tomatoes (vine, beef and various specialities), mainly for winter production.
VDH: How long have you been working with Van der Hoeven?
CB: Since 2007 – we started our company with a Van der Hoeven greenhouse.
VDH: How was your partnership with Van der Hoeven in this project?
CB: As always, we had an excellent partnership with Van der Hoeven on the ModulAIR greenhouse. Van der Hoeven designed a greenhouse specially for the climate in our region. They obviously also took into account the expected climate in the greenhouse (temperature, air humidity). During the design process, one of the focuses was to reduce labour intensity with regard to the cultivation (level of growing gutter, dimensions of the gutter, etc.). Materials were also chosen that would minimise the maintenance costs in the long term. Measures were also taken to lower electricity consumption and the operational costs.
VDH: What do you think of the new, ModulAIR greenhouse?
CB: A ModulAIR greenhouse is different from a standard greenhouse, but it’s actually very simple in practice. We expected an insect-repellent greenhouse and we were certainly not disappointed in this respect. The cooling is very efficient and electricity consumption is much lower than expected. Air exchange in a ModulAIR greenhouse is significantly lower than in a standard greenhouse, producing a higher C02 concentration. We can conserve that C02 concentration with high light intensity and outside temperature. This wouldn’t have been possible with a standard greenhouse.
VDH: Why did you choose Van der Hoeven for the last three projects?
CB: All our projects feature special greenhouses (NOVI-LITE greenhouse, semi-closed greenhouse). Van der Hoeven always listens to us and understands what we want. For that reason, the final result totally responds to, or even exceeds, our wishes and expectations. Moreover, Van der Hoeven is very experienced in building complete horticultural projects abroad. And if any problems occur during the building process, we know that Van der Hoeven will resolve them and that the project will always be completed on time.
For more information:
Van der HoevenVrij Harnasch 124
2635 BZ Den Hoorn
Tel: (+31) 88 262 66 66
Fax: (+31) 88 262 66 99
E-mail: info@vanderhoeven.nl
www.vanderhoeven.nl