"Combining Mini-Air and glass greenhouses is a success"

With all the developments going on at Dutch greenhouse company Royal Berry, you might almost forget that strawberries are still being grown in full swing. The freshly crowned Agricultural Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 recently unveiled plans to build a new greenhouse at a new location, is scouting additional growth locations, and received the green light to develop a residential park for international employees. Still, owner Jan van Genderen especially enjoys being in the greenhouse. "The weather is fantastic for growing, and the sunshine is also great for sales."

© Thijmen Tiersma | HortiDaily.comA satisfied grower, Jan, smiles as he looks at so many ripe, red strawberries hanging along the gutters. These are strawberries from a fresh December planting of the variety Malling Centenary. "Currently the best of the best," says Jan.

Fresh and red
"Try one," he says as we walk through one of his greenhouses on Monday, April 7. So we do. We each take a bite of a freshly picked Malling Centenary strawberry and another from the Lady Emma variety. And indeed, we can only agree with his enthusiasm about the flavor and quality of these fresh red fruits.

© Thijmen Tiersma | HortiDaily.comThese days, forklifts are constantly on the move with boxes full of Royal Berry strawberries. "Besides quality and flavor, retailers are placing more and more importance on reliability of supply," Jan observes.

Lighting for quality and taste
This year, for the first time, two crops are being grown with supplemental lighting. In addition to a lit crop of the Sonata variety, there's also a lit crop of the everbearer Lady Emma variety in the greenhouse. That's unique, Jan emphasizes. "To be sure of flavor and quality, we've decided to provide supplemental lighting in early spring for the first time."

On the first Monday morning in April, the greenhouse lights are off. But if another dark week arrives, the LED lights can easily be switched on. As of early April, Royal Berry is on the market with three varieties, all from glass greenhouses.

© Thijmen Tiersma | HortiDaily.comThanks to the abundant sunshine, and supplemental lighting when needed, the result is beautiful, sweet, and well-shelfable Lady Emma strawberries. For the first time, Lady Emma is also being grown in Royal Berry's glass greenhouse.

Successful combination
In the company's Mini-Air plastic greenhouses, the Lady Emma variety is also ready to go into production later this spring. It was planted in early February, and the enthusiastic entrepreneur expects harvests to start around late April/early May. "At that point, the volumes from the glass greenhouses begin to decline. The fact that this timing lines up so well is, for me, confirmation of the success of the combination between Mini-Air greenhouses and glass greenhouses."

Bringing promotions forward
March in Netherlands was exceptionally sunny. "Everything is moving fast this season. Totally different from last year." To manage the early high volumes of strawberries, the trading company Berries Direct—which now handles sales for all strawberry growers of the Kompany cooperative—worked hard to move up supermarket promotions. "We've put in serious work over the past few weeks." Normally, promotions for Dutch strawberries start around mid-April, but this year the need for promotions to absorb the higher-than-expected volumes was already strong at the beginning of April. "We had to seriously ramp up efforts."

Joining Kompany
Earlier this year, the various growing operations of Jan van Genderen joined the cooperative Kompany. This brought the cooperative's total strawberry acreage to over 73 hectares, with all sales now handled by Berries Direct. Jan, who foresees the strawberry market following the tomato market trend of scaling up, describes this as a bundling of sales efforts—but he emphasizes that's not the only advantage. "The best part of this collaboration is that it allows for more knowledge sharing. Our ambition is to grow this into a win-win. As growers, we can learn from each other and, with our combined volume, we can approach the market as a powerful strawberry force."

Low-residue
One area where knowledge sharing can help is in reducing the use of crop protection agents in strawberry cultivation. Royal Berry is actively working on this. "We've managed to grow residue-free strawberries. Since it's a natural product, it remains uncertain whether we can achieve this year-round. That's why for now, we're focusing on low-residue. By taking steps like these, we aim to stay ahead of future regulations."

For more information:
Royal Berry
info@royalberry.eu
www.royalberry.eu