24 May 2023
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Companies merge activities in Netherlands.
A NEW cooperative of ware potato growers is being formed in the Netherlands, aimed at centralising activities and providing a better supply chain.
Three companies - Agrico, Nedato and Leo de Kock – are hiving off their ware activities to form the new independent cooperative which will begin operating in the autumn. Further integration will then take place in stages.
A joint announcement from the three companies states that the move is in response to the changing needs of consumers and is geared towards setting up sustainable integral chains. The three parties have spent the past few months giving in-depth consideration to the best way of collaborating.
They agreed that the collaboration should provide a powerful, healthy organisation that can offer ware growers a good long-term prospect and respond to current and future consumer needs. The new cooperative of ware potato growers will cooperate across the entire chain of growing, trading and packing.
Trading and packing activities will take place at Nedato’s current site in Oud-Beijerland. It was felt the site is most centrally located for the majority of the growers involved and having all activities in one location will enable the entire process to be controlled better and more efficiently.
Key staff from the three companies will transfer to the new organisation to ensure good knowledge transfer and the transition to one location will take place in phases.
Management from all three companies have said the joining of forces will ensure better long-term prospects for growers.
Agrico’s Chief Operating officer, Mark Zuidhof, said: “In this new cooperative, the strategy focuses entirely on potato cultivation for consumption and the ware potato growers themselves are the owners.”
Director of Nedato, Wim van de Ree, agreed. “Pooling knowledge and activities relating to ware potatoes creates a highly specialized organisation with control over a short chain, in which customer needs and growers’ interests are linked effectively,” he said.
The ‘merger’ will offer exciting new opportunities according to Managing Director of Leo de Kock, Jan Bijleveld. He said. “By means of this integration, we can further improve our services to customers and strengthen our position in the market. We are excited about the new opportunities,” he said.
Nedato is a growers association with more than 400 affiliated potato growers located in Oud-Beijerland, in the province of South Holland. It supplies approximately 350,000 tons of potatoes in the retail, food service, export, catering and raw material for the processing industry segments.
Potato packing business Leo de Kock, based in Purmerend in the west of the Netherlands, has been a subsidiary of Agrico since 1989, when the family business transferred the business.
Seed supplier Agrico, whose head office is in Emmeloord, operates in 80 countries, including the UK and Netherlands.
Photo: TRAVEL BLOG
