A typical family of growers from Zuid-Holland whose two sons have recently joined the business. Just like in family businesses everywhere. But the story of Roy and Nick of Personal Vision is anything but conventional. The two brothers only joined the family business at around the age of 30, having first been to university, travelled the world for years and pursued other careers. With this additional experience under their belts, they are ready for the future.
Roy and Nick are following in their father Stephan’s footsteps: standing out in blocky peppers. That’s partly why the business joined the growers’ association PapriCo and the Growers United cooperative in 2021. “We are working with a club of entrepreneurs with the same vision. Growers who stand out in markets including the UK, just like us, with a smaller size pepper that is also suitable for the Japanese market, for example. Exacting customers, special packaging – but those are challenges we relish.” Another advantage of the collaborative arrangement is that grading and packaging are done centrally. The new packaging facility at Zwaagdijk opens this coming spring.
From 7 to 21 hectares
Roy and Nick are ambitious. In 2022 they acquired the site next door, expanding Personal Vision’s greenhouse area from 7 to 16 hectares. The next step will follow in 2023, when a further 5 hectares of sweet peppers will be added in collaboration with Maikel van den Berg. “We have been working with Maikel since 2018, when we founded MR Seeds, a company that specialises in producing cucumber, tomato and sweet pepper seeds.
Sustainable energy
At the moment, the brothers are preparing for the new growing season. They are connecting the heating system in the existing greenhouse to the new one so that both sites will get maximum benefit from the sustainably generated energy from the CHP. “Also, in addition to our two movable screens we are installing a third, fixed film. This will insulate the greenhouse better and save a lot of energy.” But there is scope for making their energy supply even more sustainable, the brothers believe. “We have been talking to the energy supplier Eneco about installing a local heating pipe to supply residual heat.”
