Dutch tomato grower expands greenhouse acreage by 35 hectares

Tomato company Lans has purchased 44 hectares of land in greenhouse horticulture region Nieuw Prinsenland (Netherlands). Lans is the fifth company to settle in the area, where the grower looks to expand its production of various tomato varieties.

Lans will construct 35 hectares of greenhouses in the region, in 4 stages of 8.5 ha each. Construction will start at the end of next year. Nieuw Prinsenland is working on the supply of residual heat and CO2, which Lans says was an important precondition to settle there.

Lans has five production locations already in the Netherlands. In total, the company grows on an acreage of 52 hectares under glass, and following the land purchase will be able to expand that to around 87 hectares. The region, managed by the Tuinbouw Ontwikkelings Maatschappij, already houses the following companies: RedStar, Jan van Marrewijk, Auberginekwekerij De Jong and Rijk Zwaan. Around 60 percent of the 260 hectare acreage has been sold now.

Sugar plant
The greenhouse growers at Nieuw Prinsenland are expected to be able to use residual heat from the sugar plant at the industrial park by 2019. For the coming year, further development of EnergiewebXL is slated: a distribution system for residual heat and CO2 from the Moerdijk industrial area to the greenhouse horticulture park.

Piet Janmaat (Nieuw Prinsenland) wants to use residual heat from the sugar plant in greenhouse horticulture.

Anne-Marie Spierings and Henk Visser sign the letter of intent

Letter of intent
When the Nieuw Prinsenland was established in 2012, there was already talk of supplying residual heat and CO2 from the sugar plant. Technical difficulties and the crisis in the horticulture industry threw a spanner in the works, however. But now Anne-Marie Spierings of the Province of Brabant and Henk Visser of Enexis signed a letter of intent, with the intention to realize a physical connection between the harbor and industry area of Moerdijk, and the Nieuw Prinsenland horticultural region.

In later stages, they want to connect residual heat and CO2 from other Moerdijk companies to the network as well. In the long run, that should yield savings of up to 5 petajoule.

For more information:
Tuinbouw Ontwikkelings Maatschappij
Hintham 156
5246 AK Rosmalen
Netherlands
+31(0)73-6891502
www.tombrabant.nl
www.nieuwprinsenland.nl

Lans
www.lans.nl