REFLECTION BY THE CHAIRMAN

“Together, we are stronger than alone”

My first two months as chairman of the Members' Council started with several talks and meetings. These have strengthened my ambition to engage with all members: large and small, immediate and clock, national and international.

PAST / PRESENT / FUTURE

Entrepreneurship over the years

Together with her brother Edwin, Karin van der Eijk is the third generation in the family business VDE plant. They run the company together with associate Hein Visser and systematically invest in sustainability.

Barteld van Tuijl is in charge of transport, sales and marketing at Lin Flowers, a family-run spray chrysanthemum company.

A constructive attitude is always rewarded

When one wave has just passed, another comes along. And no, this is not about surfing, but about the complex world we move in as floriculture entrepreneurs. Big challenges follow one another. How do you sustain yourself? Good leadership is a solution to this, believes professor and consultant Freek Peters (Tilburg University and Galan Group). "In essence, leadership is about getting things done, along with each other."

3 Members speaking

What is the role of our cooperative?

In this edition, Martijn van Geel (van Geel orchids), Olaf van der Voort (Van der Voort Pot Plants) and Lennart Lekkerkerk (JHL Group) answer the question.

Royal FloraHolland Members' Council

Meet the Members' Council

From 1 January, the composition of the Members' Council has changed and there is a new chairman: Marcel van der Lugt.

Nursery of tomorrow

The world is changing rapidly and, as a result, new forms of collaboration between growers are emerging increasingly frequently. Like Riza Growers, which officially launched on 1 January this year. Is this a trend?

Total 97 comments
Voting result from the February members' newsletter

Statement: Without legislation and obligations, most nurseries would not invest in sustainability

The low VAT rate (9%) for floriculture remains under pressure. The current cabinet is looking for money, wants to simplify the tax system and sees too many different rates as undesirable.

Plenty of visibility for our cooperative

Upcoming events

Chairman's reflections

'Together we are stronger than alone'

My first two months as chairman of the Members' Council started with several talks and meetings. These have strengthened my ambition to engage with all members: large and small, immediate and clock, national and international. The strength we have together, I want to keep strong. That will be the common thread of my chairmanship.

During my first official moments as chairman of the Members' Council, the Two Days, I felt a great dynamic and warm welcome from current and new Members' Council members. In the governance triangle (Member Council, management board, SB), I already felt well-heard. I also found the discussions with members, on various signals coming to the Members' Council, to be very valuable. You get a lot of insight into what members think and can better represent them within the cooperative.

In this Members' Newspaper, we reflect on the strength of the cooperative. Together, in lobbying government and within Royal FloraHolland, we can achieve so much. If we stand side by side, we can solve many of today's problems and seize opportunities. Whether this is about sustainability or working together to build a strong cooperative, we can make each other so much stronger! I want to be there for all members and to raise awareness of your voice. So again my appeal: keep talking to each other and ask questions to me and the other member council members. Because one thing is certain, together we are stronger than alone.