The greenhouse sector in The Netherlands is world-famous for the production and export of flowers, plants and vegetables. Our limited resources have forced us over the years to innovate and collaborate in order to get the most out of little. This has resulted in The Netherlands being the number one address for the latest and highest quality greenhouse technologies, top quality and variety of flowers and vegetables, produced with the highest production results per m2, and a most desired cooperative sales and distribution infrastructure, such as the Dutch auction model.
Greenhouse areas.
The most important centres of production are to be found in the West of the country, in the area around Schiphol Airport and the so-called Westland between The Hague and Rotterdam. There are also large production areas in the East and South East, mostly in the provinces of Drenthe and Limburg. The most important glasshouse vegetables are sweet peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers.
Government support.
For many years the Dutch Government has supported the horticulture sector with research, information and education. The testing stations are one example of this. The government has now changed its policy and its role is now geared to setting standards and conditions for horticultural production. These standards relate to quality, the environment, crop protection, nature and landscape and working conditions. The government still actively stimulates innovation in the sector.
Current trends and focus areas are further innovation with regard to focus areas, such as energy production / income from sales of electricity, light intensity innovations, and environmental (recycling, efficiency of agro-inputs). Furthermore, growers have larger glass area per company, there is an increasing number of cooperative structures, and greenhouse cluster projects, such as AgriportA7 and Bergerden with hundreds of hectares glass.
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