In Grashoek, in the Dutch province of Limburg, greenhouse growers Job and Thom van Mullekom provide housing for 40 migrant workers at their horticultural operation. The strawberry and cucumber growers opened their facilities to regional newspaper De Limburger to demonstrate that worker housing in the sector does not have to be associated solely with negative headlines (link in Dutch).
In 2021, the brothers completed five large apartments on their premises. Before that, their employees were housed at various locations across the region.
"Having them housed at the company is much better," says Thom van Mullekom. "It is not a revenue model for us, but a facility for our employees. This way, they keep more net income and feel comfortable. Personnel is your human capital."
In addition to accommodation, the growers offer Dutch language lessons to their international employees.
Job and Thom advocate small-scale housing solutions at agricultural businesses rather than large-scale facilities where housing itself is the primary revenue model. The municipality of Peel en Maas currently has two such large-scale locations in operation, while two other approved projects have not yet been implemented.
According to the brothers, the 1,000 housing places allocated to the two inactive projects could instead be made available to agricultural entrepreneurs, enabling them to obtain permits for worker accommodation. At the end of 2023, the municipality of Peel en Maas introduced restrictions on new migrant worker housing after migrant workers accounted for 10% of the municipality's total population at the time.
Last year, Multigrow Grashoek and MultiFresa presented a new company film.
