The Greenery launches new sustainability initiative

Fresh produce company The Greenery – one of the leading suppliers of fruit, vegetables and mushrooms to supermarkets and wholesalers across the UK – has launched a new initiative to recognise growers which achieve exceptional sustainability performance.

Its new ’Nature Counts’ endorsement will be awarded by a jury of independent experts including retailers, growers and academics working in areas such as crop protection, health, CO2 usage and sustainable trade. Growers supplying The Greenery with fresh produce which meets strict assessment criteria will be entitled to apply the Nature Counts label to their produce packaging.

Growers will be assessed on the basis of energy consumption, crop protection, transparency, waste, water, employment and nature and landscape conservation. In order to win Nature Counts status, growers must achieve exceptional scores in one of these key areas and above average scores in all the others.

The Greenery launched the initiative in an effort to stimulate both the horticulture sector and individual growers to keep improving the sustainability of fresh fruit and vegetable cultivation.

At the launch ceremony for Nature Counts, the beef tomatoes grown for The Greenery by the A+G Van den Bosch family in Bleiswijk were announced as the very first to be awarded the new status.

The jury praised the pioneering spirit of the family business – the first horticultural farm in The Netherlands to use geothermal heat to heat its greenhouses. This method has helped to significantly reduce the consumption of natural gas and has achieved energy savings of 90 per cent. The company also actively supports other growers seeking to apply geothermal heat in the cultivation of vegetables.

The launch of Nature Counts took place at an event called ’Health is more’ organised by The Greenery which was attended by around 100 representatives of seed producers, growers, retailers and other participants in the fresh produce industry from across The Netherlands.

Various speakers, including former Dutch Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment Jacqueline Cramer and trend-watcher Adjiedj Bakas, discussed scenarios for the future of vegetable and fruit chain sustainability. The speakers highlighted the growing importance of sustainability in the food chain.

The Greenery itself promotes socially responsible business practices through its ’health is more’ sustainability policy. This comprises activities grouped under the headings ’healthy growing’, ’healthy variety’, ’healthy innovation’, ’healthy business practices’, ’healthy employees’ and ’healthy communications’. The introduction of Nature Counts is part of the ’healthy growing’ programme and represents one of The Greenery’s initiatives to stimulate and promote sustainable practices in the horticulture sector.

The Nature Counts jury will meet twice each year to issue new endorsements which each last for three years.

In order to gain Nature Counts status, products must have enjoyed demonstrable success on the market. Sustainability projects that failed to achieve the desired result but nevertheless represent an important first step or have helped to improve the sustainability of the vegetable and fruit sector will be featured on the www.naturecounts.com website.