MPS records give Green’05 cultivation insights
Green’05 operates across forty hectares, growing a mix of foliage and bedding plants based on customer demand. The company supplies major retailers and wholesalers who have sustainability requirements themselves, explains cultivation manager Willem Bart Junte.
“We face several challenges, such as growing in peat-free compost, using biological crop protection and dealing with the ever-decreasing number of products available. Customers ask for this. We will need to transition fully to peat-free substrates for some of our buyers by 2026, for example. And in terms of crop protection, customer requirements are sometimes even stricter than the regular list of authorized agents.
Sustainable cultivation
So there are plenty of reasons for Green’05 to make their operations as sustainable as possible – not just because they have to, but also because they want to. “We use biological control methods whenever possible, even if corrective action with chemical products is sometimes necessary. When that’s the case, we try to use low-risk agents classified as ‘green’ as much as possible.” The company acknowledges that there are still challenges to overcome in this area.
Green’05 is also leading the way when it comes to energy. “At our main site we have a CHP for heating and lighting. We also have solar panels, an electric boiler and use residual heat from industry at several of our sites.”
Insights into measure
Green’05 provides insights into these measures through its MPS-A+, MPS-GAP and MPS-SQ certifications. “But they give us valuable insights, too,” Junte adds. “Because you enter your usage separately for each site, you can immediately see how you’re doing there in terms of things like disease pressure, product use and water consumption.”
Transparency from the sector
Green’05 sees communicating this to the outside world as a challenge. “As a sector, we need to be really transparent. We are constantly working to minimise our use of chemicals and maximise biocontrols wherever we can – and we need to highlight this to ensure our sector is positively represented in the media.”
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