"After about a year, it turned out it really was in my blood, and in 2004 I started working here at my father’s greenhouse”, says Michiel Koolhaas, pepper grower in the Dutch town of Bergschenhoek. He is also an avid sailor and sees certain commonalities between these two elements of his life, as he tells ZON Magazine in their series ‘Grower in the Spotlight’.
Michiel Koolhaas
Expropriation
Michiel (38) is the third generation of the Koolhaas family to cultivate here, after his father and grandfather. “Well, ‘here’ might not be completely correct, because to be precise: my grandfather started cultivating cucumbers in a village two kilometers from here and to do so, took over an existing greenhouse. At a certain point in time, my father took over the company and continued growing cucumbers on that spot.
A few years ago, the plans for the construction of the high-speed rail line and housing construction became more and more concrete. It soon became clear that the grounds on which the old greenhouses stood would be expropriated and that continuing the company in the village would no longer be an option.
Because the greenhouse in the village was already very old, the expropriation actually came at just the right moment, and my father chose to build the 2.2-hectare greenhouse in this place instead. He then also made a choice to switch from cucumbers to yellow peppers, which we have been growing here ever since.”
Taking over the company little by little
After high school and secondary horticultural school, Michiel went on to study business administration and agricultural business at the HAS University of Applied Sciences in Delft. Upon finishing his studies, he started to work at CombiVliet, where he was responsible for certification and quality schemes.
"After a year however, it turned out it really was in my blood, and in 2004 I started working here at my father’s greenhouse. We made a deal that little by little, I would be taking over the company, without the bank needing to help out with it.
In a few years, the transaction will be complete, and I will be the new owner. Dad still helps out sometimes but has basically stopped working. I have one permanent employee to help run the company and four to five temporary workers”, says Michiel.
In practice
It has been two years since Michiel decided to change from a marketing organization and switch to ZON. “Before starting, I was under the impression that the sales system at ZON would be better constructed, and this appears to be the case in practice as well.
"'At Home with ZON’ you use as a slogan, and I really feel like that is the case. I am now able to concentrate on my company fully and don’t even need to worry about sales, which I enjoy very much. I let the product be sorted in one central place, so I don’t need to worry about that either.
"I think that working on the cultivation yourself on this scale is just fun. How by playing with heat, light, and other elements, you can influence the final product. In that regard, cultivating is a lot like sailing. You constantly need to adjust your sails according to the circumstances."
Clock
"At some other marketing organizations, they only seem to have an eye for large cultivation companies, and they don’t see much of a future for small companies like mine. At ZON, however, it appeared that a company as big as mine is capable and flexible enough to respond to demand. We can produce fresh products for the clock without the need for it to be pushed through. I think that a healthy market should work like that.”
Transportation costs
However, Michiel is not all too pleased with the transportation costs, that for a far off company as his, can be relatively high. “I understand the system behind it, but for me this means that the higher prices I get for my products, are partly outdone by the higher transport costs.
"Because this is the case for other companies as well, we, as pepper growers, are in discussion with ZON about it. I do think that, as ZON, you should be able to do something about this if you successfully want to recruit new growers.”
Just keep going
Michiel Koolhaas shows how happy he is with the way things are going at the moment. Will he keep doing this until he retires? “That is something the future will have to show, but I really am quite pleased with my company. At the moment, I am mainly focusing on paying off my parents' share, and for instance, expansions are not yet relevant. In other words, just keep going. That’s what it boils down to.
"In any case, I don’t have any solid plans yet, let's say it like that. I am still young, but a few years ago I saw my fair share of crisis in the industry to know that it could all be over before you know it if you want to grow too fast. One thing is for certain, I don't want to become dependent on the banks and will take care of what two generations before me have built. That on its own is already quite the responsibility if you ask me.”
Source: ZON Magazine