An initiative of

EN
NL
FR
DE

Robert Elshof

“Hi, I’m Robert Elshof and I grow organic apples in Dronten, together with my wife Nathalie and my children Cas and Mara. If you walk around my packhouse, you can still see wooden apple boxes with the year 1970 and the name A. Elshof. That is my father, who started this company in 1968 in the Flevopolder, which had just been reclaimed from the Zuiderzee. I grew up in this spot and since my childhood I worked on the fruit farm. In 2002 I took over the company. At the time, we were fully specialized in supplying for the supermarket. In 2010 however, I decided to go organic.

Since I have been working organically, I see nature coming back to my orchard. There are much more earwigs and ladybugs, who control the lice. After two years without pesticides I also see the dragonflies, butterflies and honey bees increase in numbers.

My ambition is to grow organic apples of high quality, but also in large quantity. I have 18 hectares of myself and I also pack the apples for four other organic growers. I think organic should gain a serious market share. At the moment, 3% of all food in the Netherlands is organic and that is way too little. Organic will have to prove itself more and demonstrate its added value. I want to work at that."

Interview with Robert Elshof

Why did you convert to organic?
Robert: "We were always good at producing large volumes of high quality. But after 2007, 2008 it started to pall on me. Supermarkets were putting up more and more rules. You had to deliver a perfect product with a lot of extra requirements and paperwork, but at a minimum price. Often less then cost price. So I though to myself: I might as well take on a real challenge, and go organic. I feel that in the organic market there is still room to create something new. We need to make the product less anonymous and work transparently, that's the organic way."

How did you prepare for going organic?
"Here in Dronten we have the highest density of organic farms in the whole country. So I visited my organic colleagues, I asked advice from organic specialists and of course I googled a lot. I also went to visit a number of organic cropfarmers. After that, I just went on and did it! In 2013, my whole company will be officially organic."

What difficulties did you encounter?
"In 2012 all fruit growers, me included, had a lot of frost damage in the spring. As a result, production is very low this year, although the quality is very good. But the frost damage has nothing to do with going organic. What bothered me most in the beginning, was having to allow bugs and weeds in my orchard. To controll them by natural means, you have to be really on top of it all the time. You need to watch the trees very carefully and put a lot of effort in. One might compare good organic farming with a top-class athletic performance. But in general, things are going quite well!"

What do you like most about working in the orchard?
"It's just great to be outside. Unfortunately I must confess that currently I'm so busy with managing business, that I'm not as much in the orchard as I would like too. But I still come there every day. The best moments of the year are blossom time in april, and of course the moment in early autumn, just before the harvest, when all the trees all full with colourful apples."

Sustainability flower

Tabs

soil

25% of all soils worldwide are severely degraded, even in Europe. Every minute, the equivalent of 30 football fields of fertile soil is destroyed as a result of non-sustainable agriculture. Organic farmers on the contrary are working for a fertile, living soil. Robert Elshof applies loads of compost, for example. He was already using compost as a conventional farmer, but now he uses more than 5 times the amount he used to. in the last year it amounted to 700 tons of compost. "It's better for your soil structure, your soil life and it makes the soil easier to treat" says Robert. His orchard, by the way, has perfect soil for organic apple growing: a fertile layer of clay on top, and underneath a permeable layer of sand. As a result the soil is very fertile with a good amount of calcium, but also has good water management and drainage."

biodiversity

Since Robert started working organically, the numbers of animals in his orchard have increased a lot. There are more lice, which can be a plague, but luckily the numbers of earwigs and lady bugs have risen accordingly: they keep each other in balance. There are also more dragonflies, butterflies, bees and other insects in the orchard now. Robert already had a lot of birds nest-boxes, for falcons and tits. "The place is full of birds of prey these days, and even foxes. Unfortunately, all the predators made the pheasants dissappear ..." For managing the orchard and taking care of the trees, Robert has hired a man who is an expert in bugs and fungi. "You need to have a bit of a passion for nature and everything that lives there, if you want to work organically," Robert concludes.

Now that Robert works organically, the flora in his orchard has changed. "I see all kinds of plants that I have never seen there before." To keep the weeds in check, Robert needs to weed the orchard floor regularly. Applying the hoe also helpst to speed up mineralisation, releasing nutrients that can feed the tree.
As far as apple varieties are concerned, Robert is putting a lot of thought into future developments. What should be the organic apple variety of the future? He is now testing the "Red Prince", a red apple with a good taste. Robert planted a row of young trees, but unfortantely they were badly affected by the spring frost; young trees are more sensitive to frost. Robert is also considering planting pears.

All these examples show how the organic approach leads to more diversity, in natural varieties as well as agricultural varieties.

society

"Freedom", in the sustainability flower, is about cultural sustainability, or freedom of the mind. Education, culture and spirituality are vital ingredients. This applies not only to the individual, but also to the local community. Robert is closely involved with the local community and his local employees. At the end of the harvest season, he always organises a big celebration for his employees. Robert: "But this year our employees, some of whom have been with us for 25 years, told me and my wife that we need not do anything. They want to organise it all for us! That felt really special."
Robert also sponsors all kinds of local events, such as a yearly festival in the city of Dronten. Robert: "I do not have any local commercial interests, because I only sell to wholesalers. But I do that because I feel connected to this region. If the local sports club comes by for some event, I will allways sponsor with fruit." Robert is also a member of a gentlemen's club who support local and international charities.

"Justice", in the sustainability flower, relates to societal sustainability. This is mostly about human rights, equal chances, avoiding discrimination. Safe working circumstances are also treated in this part of the flower.
During harvest time, Robert hires a lot of Polish employees. The regular employees are mostly local, but also two Poles. There is hardly any turnover in staff, which indicates they are happy with their job. "Some people have been working here for 25 years."
Employers rights and social security are well arranged, according to Dutch law. Robert: "We pay special attention to working circumstances. To me, that's only normal. We use a little orchard train, for example, to carry the fruit. In the past, the fruit pickers were carrying boxes around all the time. We also replaced the ladders. The pickers don't have to stand on boxes or ladders, but can use a little hydraulic platform now. It's safer and more practical. Furthermore, in the warehouse we create a light and pleasant atmosphere, with floor heating."

"Solidarity", in the sustainability flower, stands for economic sustainability. This is about sufficient income and decent housing for employees, but also about economical continuity for the company itself: the company must be healthy to survive. Robert seeks economical viablity in striving for big volumes. Apart from that, he also diversifies. An example is his company "work fruit", www.werkfruit.com, that supplies fresh fruit to the work floor of companies. This stimulates people to eat more fruit during work, instead of sweet and fatty snack. A second little side scheme is the unmanned market stall along the road, which sells apples. Passing locals can take a bag of apples and leave the money in a little box, based on trust.

Education is another aspect of "freedom". Robert Elshof's company provides a lot of apprenticeship places to students from the Netherlands and the rest of the world.
Robert is also active in the Dutch Fruit Growers Assocation, where he's a member of the board.

climate

Robert tries to be efficient with his energy use. In the warehouse, the heat that comes the cooling machines is used to heat the floor of the working area. "Normally that heat flies straight into the air" says Robert. He also isolated the whole building anew, a couple of years ago. For the work in the orchard, Robert recently bought more efficient machines in order to save diesel. To control weeds, organic growers often need to spend more energy than conventional farmers. On the other hand, not using chemical fertilizers and pesticides is an energy-saver. (See also "air")

As far as greenhouse gass emissions are concerned, Robert's environmental contribution is mainly that he does not use artificial fertilizer and pesticides, which are made from fossil fuel. Nitrogen fertilizer especially leads to emission of NO2, nitrous oxide, which is 300 times as harmful as CO2. Instead of nitrogen fertilizer, Robert uses compost, which does the opposite: it increases the carbon content in the soil. Scientific research show that organic agriculture can help to mitigate and accomodate the effects of climate change.

water

In many parts of the world fresh water is a scarcity, but the Netherlands are practically built on water. "The soil of our province Flevoland is carrying up water" says Robert. Fresh water comes up automatically from below, so the plants are always watered invisibly and drought is never a problem. Therefor Robert does not need irrigation. The use of compost also helps to increase the water holding capacity of his soil.

Where to find?

Map

Robert Elshof

You are here

Sustainability flower

Tabs

Where to find?

Contact

Information

Follow us

Newsletter

Nature & More is an initiative of