Marc Swinkels no longer makes the daily 35-kilometer drive from his home in Mierlo to his greenhouse. He has sold his business to his neighbor and now works as a crop advisor. In this new role, he can share his passion for cultivation and put his hands-on experience to good use through the Plant Performance Concept.
"I worked with the Plant Performance Concept for the last four years as a grower, and I found it really interesting," Marc says. "We clearly used fewer crop protection products, and at the same time, our quality improved significantly."
Marc still remembers the moment a German buyer came to him with unexpected praise. "He didn't know that we had changed our cultivation approach, but he noticed right away that our strawberries were stronger. When I told him I was stopping, he was really disappointed. He said, 'It was always easy for me, because with your strawberries, I knew everything would be fine.'"
© Swinkels ZachtfruitMarc next to high-quality strawberries that his customers were so happy with.
Freom employee to independent grower
For the first five years of his career, Marc—whose parents were open-field growers—worked for a strawberry grower. Together with his parents, he also cultivated blueberries. In 2010, he started his own business with a greenhouse. "We converted a former pepper greenhouse into a strawberry production facility and completely refurbished it. Almost everything was replaced. Once we even installed a new boiler, the breakdowns finally stopped—and I finally started sleeping better," Marc laughs.
More grower than manager
When he turned forty, Marc began to reflect. "Do I really want to keep doing this for another 25 or 30 years?" he asked himself. He loved the growing part, but running a modern horticultural business also meant increasing paperwork and ever-stricter regulations. "That part I liked less. Looking ahead, we would have needed to scale up, but that would have made me more of a manager than a grower. I enjoyed working in the greenhouse myself, and I wasn't sure I'd still find the same joy if that changed."
Fewer problems with the neighbor
Marc and his wife, who managed the administration, started talking with their neighbor, who had already purchased the adjacent greenhouse and showed interest in theirs as well. Since this summer, Rob van Enckevort has taken over Marc's operation. "I actually spoke to him this morning," Marc says. "We were not only neighbors but also good friends—and we still are."
Does Rob now have a new crop advisor as part of the deal? Marc laughs. "No, I won't be advising on my old company. I'll certainly stop by for coffee, but it wouldn't be smart to act as a consultant there."
It was actually Rob who introduced Marc to the Plant Performance Concept, developed by Mark van der Werf from Power2Plants. "Rob was an early adopter. We noticed that he had far fewer problems in his crop, and if anything did occur, he got it under control much faster. When he treated for mildew, it seemed much more effective than in our greenhouse."
© Swinkels Zachtfruit
Drastic nitrogen reduction
That sparked Marc's interest too. "Mark came by and analyzed our cultivation. The first major changes we made were adding calcium granules, lowering the EC, and working with a different feeding strategy, partly through foliar fertilization."
Marc grew June-bearing strawberries. Sap analyses performed by NovaCropControl helped him understand how these adjustments affected the plants. "The analyses showed us the actual nutrient levels and whether they were in balance. Over time, I learned which values we should aim for."
One key step was a sharp reduction in nitrogen. "Too much nitrogen causes many problems," Marc explains. "You really have to cut it down significantly before you notice results. A small reduction won't do much—but you shouldn't go too low either, because the crop still needs to grow."
Finding that balance remains an enjoyable challenge for him. "Growing is the best job there is, especially when working with the Plant Performance Concept. It's a more plant-friendly and environmentally friendly way of growing. We used far fewer pesticides, and eventually we didn't even need sulfur evaporators anymore. That helped our biological control agents work better too. Sometimes we even found beneficial insects that we hadn't introduced ourselves."
© Swinkels Zachtfruit
Advising new and traditional growers
Now, as an independent crop consultant with his own company, Swinkels Agri Solutions, Marc supports Mark van der Werf with practical advice on implementing the Plant Performance Concept. He also assists growers who aren't yet ready to fully adopt it. "Even traditional growers can benefit from my advice. It's easy for me to say now that it works, but for many growers, taking that first step can be daunting."
Interest in the concept is strong, Marc notes. "I'm invited to share my story all over the place, and I really enjoy doing that. Several growers will be trying it out on part of their crop this spring."
Learning from other cultivation
Power2Plants is active not only in soft fruit but also in other sectors and countries. Marc may occasionally travel abroad, though he says it's not his ambition to be on a plane every week. "Mark doesn't do that either," he adds with a smile. "My world is soft fruit, but I also find it fascinating to learn from other crops. That's something Mark and I have in common."
The Plant Performance Concept is now being applied in ornamental crops, arable farming, and even on golf courses. "What I really like is that it's a Dutch innovation," Marc says proudly. "It shows that the Netherlands is still a global leader in horticultural knowledge, and I'm happy to help spread that expertise."
© Swinkels ZachtfruitMarc bought his first own greenhouse in 2010 and transformed the former pepper company completely to his liking over the years.
For more information:
Swinkels Agri Solutions
[email protected]
Power2Plants
[email protected]
www.power2plants.nl
