After 16 years of seeing the global fresh produce market at Enza Zaden, Chris Groot moved to open-field vegetable specialist AGF-Direct in October 2022, a company with at most 10 employees.
Not an outdoor vegetable trading company, Chris hastens to say. He has even coined his own term for the collaboration model: the TEVO model, which stands for Telers Eigen Verkoop Organisatie (Growers Own Sales Organisation). "This is because we do much more than sell product and really act as an extension of the grower. We treat growers as we would like to be treated ourselves, and that is mutual. By being completely transparent, you get a vulnerable relationship. This causes you to do much more for each other besides sales, think product development and cultivation support. Incidentally, this is not a new model, as there are plenty of successful examples of this abroad. With the shrinking resource package, a lot is coming down on growers. By actively running the gauntlet with this, your relationship becomes much closer than just selling a few pallets of trade. In that collaboration, I can add something with my breeding background."
AGF Direct started marketing cauliflower, broccoli and chicory in 2015 for some North Holland growers who gave the team the confidence to have their product marketed. Over the years, the range has expanded to include several outdoor products such as special beets, coloured carrots, pointed cabbage and iceberg lettuce. This year, a new product line will be added to the range. For instance, AGF-Direct has partnered with Jeroen and Rinke Robbers of De Terp Squashpackers, the largest organic pumpkin growing company in the Netherlands. From the beginning of October, the companies will start supplying a new semi-finished red Hokkaido pumpkin, both half pumpkins and cubes, cut at 10 or 20 mm. "Pumpkins have been gaining momentum in Europe in recent years and it is an ingredient in many recipes. If you say pumpkin in the Netherlands, everyone thinks of the standard pumpkin, but we deliberately chose the red Hokkaido pumpkin, which is a completely different pumpkin in taste and eating experience."
"This pumpkin is named after a Japanese island where the genetics come from. During my time at Enza Zaden, I got to know the unique genetics of these pumpkins. The varieties are specially selected for flavour and thus flavour of the skin. The skin of this red pumpkin contains two unique carotenoid pigments, namely lutein and zeaxanthin, which are great for you. Not for nothing do we want to start supplying this semi-finished product with peel. This makes us unique in the market, but it would be a shame not to use these unique properties of the peel. At De Terp, the Dutch season runs from October to mid-January/early February, after which we switch to the South African supply, so that we can deliver all year round. For De Terp, we are the Benelux sales organisation for this semi-finished product. As AGF-Direct, we expect to supply our broad customer base, consisting of wholesalers, retailers, meal box suppliers, exporters and slicers, with this semi-finished product, but we are already seeing interest from other quarters as well, such as baby food processors," Chris says.
Voor meer informatie:
Chris Groot 
AGF Direct
Groothandelsmarkt 2
1681 NN Zwaagdijk
Tel: +31 (0) 85-3032630
[email protected]
www.agfdirect.nl