Sustainability

The best and most beautiful red rose!
Environment and people

We think a rose is only perfect if it is grown sustainably and with consideration for people and the environment.
We mainly work with:

For a good shelf life
Organic, integrated crop protection.

More organic pest control products are coming onto the market with ever-increasing quality. Organic products are increasingly able to cope with the changing conditions in the greenhouse. Regrowth after spider mite infestation is much better when using organic products; the crop recovers faster than after treatment with chemical products. Unfortunately, organic products are not yet available for some diseases and pests. In this case, we use products that affect the ecology as little as possible. We retain a high quality, and our method results in a good shelf life with no chemical residues on our roses. Organic methods are also much better for our employees. We apply the organic products using a spray or by hand. Every employee can administer organic products without needing a special licence.

 

The heart of our business
Energy cluster

The heart of our business is energy generation. Driven by the need to make energy costs manageable, we have joined forces with four neighbours in an energy cluster. HB-Energy is a stand-alone company on the Hooghe Beer in Honselersdijk. . This includes a heat storage tank and a building installed with four Rolls-Royce CHPs (combined heat and power) and two boilers. The CHPs cover 95% of the heating demand, the remaining 5% comes from the boilers.

Van der Drift Roses is the only one in the energy cluster to use intensive assimilation lighting. The electricity left over is mostly sold on the long-term energy market (OTC).

The remainder is sold through the daily electricity trading market (APX) or through the imbalance.  The combined total area covers more than 26 hectares. We can enjoy the benefits of large-scale companies.

We look ahead
Future

We always ask ourselves how we can work a more environmentally friendly way and with a smaller footprint. We keep a close eye on new technological developments and actively think about how we can be more aware of climate needs. We would love to exchange ideas on this subject and warmly invite you to discuss any thoughts with us.