02-07-2025
As CEO of Harvest House, Jelte van Kammen is a connecting force within the sector. “I bring people together and inspire them. I also seem to have a talent for seeing where developments are heading, and I try to share that insight with others.”
Why is connection in the sector so important?
“The entire greenhouse cluster is facing the same challenges. In that case, it makes far more sense to work together on solutions. We are more like‑minded than many people realise, and cooperation can only bring advantages. Ten years ago, we started working together as salads organisations within the FVO on non‑competitive topics. Over the past three years, we have made major strides for the greenhouse‑cultivated salads sector.”
What accelerated this development?
“That was partly due to a group we began calling the Coalition of the Willing: a think tank with people from across the entire high‑tech greenhouse cluster, ranging from salad growers to ornamental growers, and from breeders to suppliers. We recognised that real change was urgently needed in certain areas if we wanted to retain our licence to produce. Instead of waiting, lobbying and trying to postpone legislation, we realised: if we want change, we need to take action ourselves. So we started working together. We identified the truly urgent issues – our burning platforms – and focused on those.
Within the FVO, we aim to find practical solutions. As producers, we are now taking the lead and, together with the entire cluster, working to bring about real change. One example is synthetic crop protection. The medicine cabinet was becoming empty, yet we kept asking politicians for help. That lobby is not going to solve the problem. We need to change ourselves. And if you speak to growers today, they all see this and want to move forward.”
How is the FVO working on solutions?
“The FVO’s project‑based approach puts the grower at the centre: they are the ones who can implement pilots in practice. For the crop protection theme, we look for solutions across the entire cluster, together with suppliers and chain partners. Through practical pilots at FVO growers’ greenhouses, we can test what really works. We take the same approach for themes such as energy, biodiversity, water and labour. It is always about cooperation and taking action.”
Harvest House is often at the forefront of innovation. Where does that come from?
“It is in the character of our growers. They are all future‑oriented entrepreneurs, and their decisiveness sets the pace for our organisation. Not talking endlessly, but discussing and then acting. Take the HortiFootprint, the predecessor of the FreshProducePEFCR, which was introduced by one of our growers. I strongly believe in making our environmental impact measurable. That is why, at Harvest House, we pushed hard for the first pilots and then scaled them up within the sector. The same applies to the True Value project. We do not wait; we actively help shape the future.”
Within the FVO True Value project, we compare the costs and benefits for climate, biodiversity and social sustainability. In doing so, we determine the environmental prices of our sector, gather innovations that contribute to a lower impact, and map the relevant ecosystem services. These include grid balancing, water storage, water purification, health and land use. In cooperation with expert partners, we translate data into costs and benefits using a standardised methodology.