Almost every tomato, sweet pepper and cucumber grown by the three Verbeek brothers in their greenhouses in Velden, Limburg, is consumed abroad. It’s all a matter of taste, looks and freshness, says Fons Verbeek.

The Verbeek brothers started their ecological greenhouse farm in 1997 and managed to develop it into a technologically advanced organic production centre. “I think that about 70 percent of the technology we use is the same that you find in regular, modern greenhouses, including the computers”, says Verbeek. It’s the rest that makes the difference.

Inhouse composting
The Verbeek greenhouses, where all crops are grown in proper soil, and nourished through the farm’s own composting system, have all been fitted with ecologically advanced climate control systems, which help guarantee a high quality product. “You can carefully control the quality of a greenhouse product”, says Verbeek.

In areas where tomatoes are grown outside, production depends much more on the whims of the weather than it does in a greenhouse, says Verbeek. With plants protected only by sheets of plastic, “it will often be either too hot or too cold”, he says.

Verbeek does not handle the export markets itself, says Verbeek: “Our sales are taken care of by EOSTA. They ship about 95 percent of what we produce across the border.”

Long shelf life
The advantage of working with EOSTA, says Verbeek, is that “we sit right on top of the market”. EOSTA’s well-organised distribution system assures that Verbeek’s tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are on their way to consumers within hours rather than days after being harvested. That means that they don’t just look and taste good, they also last longer on the shelf.