After merging in 2009, nurseries Dick Kooij and WP van den Berg continued as Gerbera United. Their goal: to become the most forward-thinking gerbera grower around. Gijsbert Verboom joined in 2022; today, the company grows gerberas across 10.5 hectares at its Dutch sites in Moerkapelle, Zevenhuizen and Nootdorp. Miranda Kooij explains the company’s pioneering spirit.
Gerbera United’s flowers are sold in different varieties, formats and packaging to customers in countries across Europe via the wholesale market. Kooij has noticed that demand for certification in the market is growing. “But that isn’t the main reason we are certified. We want to set ourselves apart as a business and show that we are innovative and doing a great job. Ideally, you would want every grower to commit to this and Royal FloraHolland to encourage it too.”
Pioneering in organic plant protection
Gerbera United is taking various steps to become more sustainable, from installing LED lighting and a dehumidification system to switching to an electric boiler. Organic plant protection also plays an important role in that process, Kooij says. “We are currently working with Vertimec to trial a robot that drives around logging all the plants and checking for pests we don’t want. We also have chickens and cats on site acting as natural pest controllers. We are always looking for new techniques. When new developments come along – whether in organic plant protection or other areas – we are eager to try them out and run our own trials.”
“Joining forces”
Gerbera United is MPS-ABC, MPS-SQ and MPS-GAP certified and also uses the HortiFootprint Calculator. “We already log all our data, so it’s easy to connect to that system. But I would really like to see the different providers of footprint calculations join forces. At present it is difficult to compare different growers’ footprint results, because everyone’s data can be entered differently. That makes it hard to find out how you stack up against the rest.”
“Make sure it becomes standard”
Kooij’s hope is for the whole sector to get behind certification and “make sure it becomes standard”. “The auction should say: if you’re not certified, you can’t supply. It’s time for the whole sector – including the auction – to get behind this. Sure, certification costs money, but it does for us too. It’s high time the sector took a step forward.”
