Just Roos can be considered the driving force behind FoodVentures' global business development. "In essence, we are a Dutch grower on a global playing field. Our business model is comparable to the international hotel model; an external investor builds a greenhouse (usually based on specifications provided by us) and owns it. This investor is looking for a stable return on his investment," Just explains. "FoodVentures rents the greenhouse, takes care of its operation, and is responsible for it as well. We usually organize sales with a fixed partner. In the end, when we are profitable, profits are shared with the initial investor and owner of the property. We aim to lower the risk for all partners and, therefore, commit to long-term agreements, usually 20-plus years. That gives us and the initial investor the opportunity to create value and build a relationship of trust that lasts."
Just Roos in a high-tech greenhouse
Unlike many players in the horti industry, FoodVentures partners are often real estate investors or others who don't necessarily come from a cultivation background. This surely makes for quite the mix, but is this a sign of where the industry is heading? "In our view, it is essential to split the assets from the operations," he says. "Both have different risks and returns. We typically see large-scale investors like pension funds or real estate investors searching for stable long-term returns. And more and more, these returns must come from assets that no longer depend on the carbon industry." In other words, greenhouses are a new type of asset class that fits these investors very well. It potentially offers long-term stable returns and fits into the food and energy agendas. "Our focus lies on operation and organization, not on owning greenhouses all over the world. In our opinion, the hotel model with a split between ownership and operation is ideal for this as it enables us to expand internationally, but without large debts on our balance sheet," he continues. "Our partnership model can be very attractive for those who do not have enough experience in CEA but that do see the market potential and value in sustainable production of healthy food locally."
New skill unlocked
So, one can say that FoodVentures unlocks people's green fingers – and especially of their investment partners. This requires having talented growers who can guide those partners in the right direction. "We just opened an office in the World Horti Center in Westland, the Netherlands. This gives us the opportunity to be close to where the horticultural action is, with both the private sector and multiple educational institutes nearby," he points out. "Our target group is 2nd generation, adventurous young growers who want to see something of the world before (maybe) stepping into the family company. We aim to train as many junior growers as we can, who then, in turn, can develop into mid-level managers that work on data support and eventually could become senior growers who oversee our global projects."
The talent hunt, anyway, doesn't necessarily end up with sending said grower to the greenhouse in question. It's 2024, after all. "Through our experience working in remote areas, we have developed tools to support our growers over distance. Therefore, we rely less on generations of experience on-site but are able to train an "operator" to run the greenhouse with our support at a distance. We manage to get teams locally responsible for running greenhouses in about 12-24 months, without the need of an expat grower on site permanently," Just explains.
Of course, this doesn't mean that tried, and true on-site growers are to be entirely discarded, quite the opposite. "We still see enormous value in eyes and ears on-site, and green fingers would mean a get-it-done mentality to us. They are not ready yet to be replaced by AI. We do, of course, see the value of automation and data, and we are implementing scouting robots, to give an example, to be able to oversee more hectares with the same number of growers. However, we still believe that the success of harvesting a crop in a greenhouse is due to the workers executing their plant handling tasks well and on time," says Just.
Frontier horticulture
FoodVentures is also active in countries like Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Georgia, and China – the so-called frontier markets. "To us, new markets mean exciting opportunities, a clear demand for our product, and a hunger for adapting modern technology. In the past years, we were able to accumulate a lot of experience by working in 5 different continents and operating in nearly all different climate zones. And, to be honest, the more mature markets were not offered to a newcomer like FoodVentures 10 years ago. We were offered only the most challenging and difficult projects," Just explains. "If we can make it in these countries and under any given circumstance, we are also set to implement our model in a more established market as we are doing now in the US and Sweden. We are convinced that the Dutch model of greenhouse operation can work anywhere if you have the right people and protocols in place."
Aside from the more technical nitty gritty, FoodVentures' mission goes beyond mere greenhouse cultivation, being this just a means to a greater end. "During the corona crisis, I was living in China, and there I saw first-hand how important it is to have access to healthy, fresh food and what difference our operation could make, however small scale, to the people in lockdown in Shanghai. We saw clearly that people value fresh vegetables more, they've reverted to more home cooking and healthier meals due to the virus and its aftermath. I personally think that our diets should shift from meat-based to plant-based, and if you can have your fresh vegetables at hand in the city where you live, that is important."
"In that line, I also believe that large-scale greenhouse operations near cities are the most sustainable way to produce fresh vegetables to the city inhabitants. In the sector, we often talk about our 'license to produce.' I think that controlled environment agriculture can build the pre-conditions for sustainable food production by becoming carbon neutral and thus contributing to a circular economy. Waste heat, solar panels, geothermal energy, etc. The energy issue is being solved in multiple ways, and we now see with our new investors that running an operation with truly sustainable energy sources is becoming a pre-condition. Without that, no greenhouse. At Foodventures, we fully agree and aim to become a global leader in the transition of the food system."
For more information:
FoodVentures
www.foodventures.eu
EatThis.
Renee Snijders
[email protected]
www.eatthis.info