On 27 August, three Dutch growers made their voices heard in the Horst aan de Maas municipal council. The municipality is discussing the rezoning of glasshouse growing areas.
Litjens Kwekerijen, Aleards Allegro, and the Peelkroon spoke at the Horst aan de Maas municipal council's theme night on the subject. Marc Litjens took the floor. He explained that the growers support shrinking glasshouse horticultural areas where other functions are more appropriate, but stressed that the growers do need development space to stay 'up-to-date'.
Areas disappear
According to the growers, the current zoning plan does not provide enough development space. Indeed, entire areas seem set to disappear, the grower expressed his concerns on behalf of his colleagues. The areas in question are the glasshouse areas Veld-Oostenrijk, Melderslo and Reindonk.
On Facebook, Kwekerij Litjens also paid attention to the public participation event. There, the growers write: "As locally based horticultural entrepreneurs, we produce fresh, healthy, tasty and safe food and in addition to health, Horst aan de Maas has much to offer in terms of water, landscape, environment, energy and prosperity. A future-proof greenhouse horticulture also gives perspective to the cluster of companies in the supply, chain, and marketing of which many are also located in Horst aan de Maas and its surroundings."
The growers are calling on members of the council and the college of mayors and aldermen to come and meet the glasshouse horticulture companies and engage with them to see what glasshouse horticulture Horst has to offer.
Strawberry and lettuce in the greenhouse creates space
Also speaking on the same evening was Fons Kersten, a board member of the LLTB. He, too, pointed out the lack of development space, citing the growth area in California which is full after the last plots have also been sold. Moreover, the board member adds another argument to the discussion: with local intensification, space for expansion is created elsewhere.
He explains it as follows: "Space is needed for new crops under glass. The government is demanding a lot from entrepreneurs in terms of water quality and quantity, soil improvement, biodiversity, nature and landscape but also on topics such as labor and energy. Entrepreneurs want to and can respond to this. One example is strawberries, which used to be grown outdoors and are now almost all grown indoors with zero emissions to soil, water and air. We now also see this development emerging in strawberry plant propagation and lettuce cultivation. In the coming years, these crops will increasingly disappear from outdoors and be grown in greenhouses. One hectare of lettuce in the greenhouse replaces 10 hectares of lettuce in the ground. This means that space will be freed up in the countryside, in other words by intensifying locally, space will be created elsewhere to expand."