Members have their say

"From the black soil in winter, to the first shoots of green in spring to mature crops - I thoroughly enjoy seeing that process every year. We keep a close eye on our nursery. Seeing what happens every day. If there are lice, I am not immediately worried. Are some leaves falling off? I also let that happen. In the end, if I am left with beautiful branches, I will be satisfied. Watering we do, there's no choice. Certainly not in such a dry spring as this year. For that, we use groundwater. And for pollinating the flowers of our shrubs, there are five hives from a local beekeeper in the garden, plus six more hives. We desperately need critters to grow our produce but that doesn't preclude the fact that sometimes we have to spray. As long as the branches can handle it, we don't intervene. When needed, intervention is selective. With today's resources, it can be done just fine.

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Our approach is already relatively sustainable. This way of working suits us. When we applied for certification a few years ago, we found that we already met many criteria. The hardest thing about arranging certification for me was taking the first step. Because where and how do you start? It helped me that our consulting firm gave me a sample handbook. I adapted it to our business. If you already have a starting point for the certification application, it is much easier. That might be a good tip for other growers. I do wonder if consumers really care, though. In the end, most of them want a beautiful, affordable bunch of flowers that will stay fresh in the vase for seven days. When it comes to further sustainability, I find it unfortunate that this discussion is not taking place. As breeders, we are not inclined to introduce nature to people who are uninterested in it; that's our field of expertise. And we don't. When I look out of the window here early in the morning, I regularly see a pheasant, a partridge or a hare. Just the other day, I came across the tracks of a roe deer. I think that shows we are not doing too badly at all."

"Checking the weather forecast. That's the first thing I do when I get out of bed. So much depends on the weather. Every day we make the trade-off: what do we do? When spring is colder or wetter, we need a bit more protection, as the crop is often damp for too long. On the contrary,in drier years such as this one, we leave out some agents or use a lower dosage. We prefer to use gentle pesticides, which have minimal impact on the environment. But then again, those agents are less resistant to the sun and  they need to be used more frequently. And after a hailstorm, when the crop is damaged, we also have to work. Think of it like when you are ill: you take a paracetamol for a minor headache, and you go a bit further for a more serious illness.