Our (Water) men from the expedition, Hessel van Helten and Jasper Meeuwes, look back on an eventful year full of challenges in transport and logistics.

Looking back on the onion growing season of 2021, now that (almost) all onions are off the land, buyers Remko Wilms, Jelmer Elzinga and Harmjan Hospers discuss their thoughts.

On Thursday, 30 September, entrepreneurs will drive around the province of Flevoland to visit three municipalities and gain knowledge, inspiration, and enthusiasm for the next step in their entrepreneurial journeys. This unique business event is being organised by Horizon, the Province of Flevoland’s regional development company.

Two routes have been laid out for participants to travel from the general assembly to the three sessions on location. During the opening assembly, participants will have a chance to hear from economist and journalist Mathijs Bouwman and entrepreneur Nasima el Bachiri-Ouamar. The sessions on-site will deal with current circularity, export, innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurship after the coronavirus.

A ‘Rij mee met Horizon’ (Ride Along with Horizon) app has been developed especially for this event. The app displays all the routes and session locations in an interactive map, and participating entrepreneurs can network through the matching and chat functions.

Want to ride along with us on 30 September?
Entrepreneurs can already register at Horizon Flevoland Events.

In early March, growers Kuunders and Derikx in South Holland planted 1.5 million red onion soil blocks. The blocks are laid out on a machine by hand, and the machine plants them neatly in the ground.

The plots are located in Deurne and Ysselsteyn, where the soil is warmer and the crops can grow faster. The soil blocks with Red Light onions by De Groot en Slot were first allowed to germinate in a greenhouse. Waterman Onions hopes that this method will allow growers to bring the new harvest of red seed onions to market even earlier.

All of the seeds germinated, and the crop has reached a nice even height, so the plot already looks very promising. The project is very labour-intensive, however, which makes it somewhat more expensive. Each hectare will have to produce several kilogrammes to make it break even. It is important that the onions have enough nutrients to achieve a good yield, so that the grower can harvest a healthy product.