How does a Dutch company end up in China building a research greenhouse and serving the local market? Arno Wouters of CHO green development BV is closely involved in such a project and is happy to explain.
It all started with a webinar during the Covid period, co-organized by the province of North Brabant and the Chinese province of Jiangsu. There were 60 Chinese organizations there with interest.
After further research, 11 remained on a list that was narrowed down to six after visits to China and then cut down further to two. Arno and the team had the luxury of being able to choose, and the choice eventually fell on Shangang, a town on the Yangtze River Delta.
Ardie van Honk of C.H.O. Green Development and Mr. Jianfeng GE, the Managing Director of Jiangsu Shangang Ecological Agriculture Technology Co., Ltd.
12,000 sq m of research
"What we are going to build there is a 12,000 m2 research and development greenhouse," Arno describes. "The greenhouse is divided into four zones, where we will grow four different crops. In the process, we will do research on climate and disease pressure, and we will also train people to work in the greenhouse. We also want to bind people to us so that the knowledge is retained."
Another aspect that will be explored is finding outlets in the market. "More and more people in China have the means and value high food quality."
Experience center
There will also be an experience center at the site. "The 13 companies involved in building the greenhouse can show there where we come from, where we are in terms of technology, and where we are going." The aim is to get students and investors interested in horticulture in this way.
"With our platform, we actually want to deliver the complete package with yield guarantee: training, management, and the experience center containing all Dutch parties." Those parties, including Bom Group and Meteor Systems, have found each other in the Chinese project, where they will work with local entrepreneurs to investigate the optimal way to grow on-site.
Bom Group is involved in the project as a greenhouse builder. The strawberry section of the research greenhouse will use swing gutters, which are height-adjustable. Ruben Kalkman of Bom Group explains the advantage of this: "In the strawberry department, swing gutters will be used for the cultivation gutters. With these, you can realize more gutters per canopy because they hang closer together."
In the background during the signing: Mike Vermeij, CEO of Bom Group, Arno Wouters of C.H.O. Green Development, Mr. Qi SONG: Director of the Organisation Department of the Suzhou Municipal Party Committee, Mr. Zhenhua LI of the Jiangsu Department of Commerce and Mr. Junmin SHAO deputy mayor of Zhangjiagang Municipal Government
Holistic approach
Such a joint research project is necessary because Dutch horticulture has a good reputation in China. "So the reasoning is that if you order a Dutch greenhouse, it must be good. But you cannot copy what we do in the Netherlands 1-to-1, conditions are different there. That's why we take this holistic approach," Arno explains.
Part of it is a hybrid learning environment. "We are going to deploy that scalably, with digital theory education, but also teaching in practice." And that will be rolled out more widely than just in Shangang. "We are there opposite the Shangang Country Cadre Institute, which trains government employees and others in the agribusiness sector. There, open-field agriculture is often still taught, with a lot of theory teaching. So there is still a lot to gain there for us."
For more information:
Ardie van Honk
C.H.O. Green Development
Tel.: +31 (0) 6 5022 8969
[email protected]
Arno Wouters
Tel.: +31 (0) 6-20056948
[email protected]