Repeat
We continue to push boundaries
We continue to push boundaries
For 125 years, we have been committed to providing high-quality food for the world's population. The world’s population is growing at an unprecedented rate, putting increasing pressure on food supplies. To contribute to this, we continue to challenge and push boundaries. We did this 125 years ago and we are still doing it today. We innovate, accelerate and make seed potato cultivation more sustainable and future-proof. This requires courageous employees with an open mind. It also requires operations and processes that work effectively.
In 2023, we are taking an important step within the multi-year Business Transformation Programme ‘Aurora’. On 1 June 2023, STET switched to the planning module of the new ERP system; the switch for all branches in Central Europe will now be prepared. This allows us to share sales and acreage planning within Europe.
Implementing an ERP system for planning, production, finance and logistics is just one part of Aurora. Above all, it is about different, more effective and more efficient collaborative methods within Royal HZPC Group B.V. We realise it will take employees some time to acclimatise and that we will encounter bumps in the road and obstacles during implementation. But there is no doubt that we must work differently.
Needless to say, we will ensure that growers and customers suffer little to no inconvenience. We are sure that Aurora will be beneficial to our employees, growers and customers. In time, this new way of working will also lead to efficiency, higher customer satisfaction and increased job satisfaction.
In the strained labour market, the challenge is to find well-trained employees who embrace change and innovation. Although, across the board, Royal HZPC Group B.V. employees under the age of 35 are increasing, the average age of employees in the Netherlands is high. This means there will be many departures in the coming years. These departures equate to a loss of knowledge and experience too. It is important to find new employees in good time so that older staff can transfer their expertise. In general, Royal HZPC Group B.V. still manages to attract enough new colleagues, but there are some vacancies that we struggle to fill. Next year, we will launch a labour market campaign to retain staff and attract new employees. Over the last few years, HZPC has been successful in attracting mainly younger employees. It is important that they feel at home in the organization and have a good connection with each other. To this end, HZPC has been working for years with a 'Young HZPC' program, connecting younger employees across the various locations.
With Connecting Growers, Royal HZPC Group B.V. spends EUR 1,5 million each year to buy up certificates from former growers, among others, and donate them to active growers in the European Union. Due to more limited supply, certificates were purchased for EUR 1,1 million this financial year and donated to these growers. In June 2023, we handed out certificates for the third time. For the first time, active growers could only receive certificates if they had completed the onboarding process on the new exchange platform. So far, certificate holders have seemed hesitant with respect to registration, even though it is vital in order to sell or buy certificates twice a year during the trading period. The field managers therefore raised the profile of registering for the trading platform in talks with growers. 52% of certificate holders have now signed up. Virtually all our active growers hold certificates. In October 2023, the Board of HZPC Association and the Supervisory Board will evaluate the Connecting Growers programme.
By 2050, no fewer than 10 billion people will live on our planet. Currently, ten percent of the world's population goes to bed hungry every day. We don't need to explain that the demand for sufficient good-quality food is a vital focus area. Especially when we see that the United Nations (UN) has declared ‘zero hunger’ as one of the key sustainable development goals for 2030.
We are convinced that potatoes have a starring role to play in the world's food supply. It is the reason that everyone connected to Royal HZPC Group B.V. works so hard every day: to make an essential contribution to 'Feeding the world'. We also do all we can to further reduce the carbon footprint of seed potato cultivation, while at the same time committing to greater food production per square metre.
Seven United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) form our compass:
Royal HZPC Group B.V. has translated these into a sustainability strategy on three pillars:
Care for the environment
Food security
Social impact
We translated these three pillars into concrete actions and recorded them in a materiality matrix. In 2021 a stakeholder consultation was done, in 2023 the step to double materiality was made, according to the inside-out/outside-in method, the result of which can be seen in the matrix below. A new materiality analysis is on the agenda for 2024.
Read more about what HZPC has realised over the last two years with respect to sustainability in our CSR report.
We have been pushing boundaries for 125 years. We innovate and dare to be ahead of the curve. Hybrid breeding is a case in point. And we can be proud of this. We broaden our outlook and are not afraid to deviate from the well-trodden path. There is still a great deal of uncharted territory that sometimes requires a different approach. Although the norm has been to export seed potatoes from the Netherlands for a long time, we have actually chosen seed potatoes from France in West Africa, in the former French colonies. Taking an exclusively European perspective is no longer enough; it's about a global outlook. By literally and figuratively looking beyond our own borders, we are now achieving success with licensed cultivation in India, China and America, for example. We can thus continue to meet the growing demand for healthy and nutritious food like the potato.
Member of steering committee CSR
Martin Janssen Klomp is regional manager Benelux at HZPC Holland B.V and is also a member of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR/sustainability) steering group.
In 2023, we prepared for the Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD). We are required to report on our sustainability efforts and their impact on people and the environment from 2025-2026. This means that we need to capture and record a great deal of data. And not just us, but every link in the value chain. The directives are currently being worked out at European level. We have now determined which sustainability topics are important to us and how we can demonstrate our impact. It is a hefty administrative task, but it provides much greater insights into our actual contribution to sustainability goals.
Working on sustainability is a must; it provides our licence to operate and is essential for the continued existence of our company. Most importantly for us, we want to provide the world with seed potatoes so that people can produce food locally. We give people economic prospects and make a vital contribution to the world's food supply. Thus, we contribute to a key United Nations sustainable development goal 'zero hunger'. And this is much needed, considering how rapidly the world's population is growing.
Our sustainability policy focuses on varietal development using both classic and hybrid breeding. We are working on varieties that yield more produce with the same (or even lower) inputs. These are robust varieties that are much more resistant to common diseases, viruses and extreme weather conditions. Our first dot on the horizon is 2030. By then, 75% of the varieties we introduce must meet the requirements we have set for late blight and virus resistance. We are clearly setting the bar high, but we are well on track.
Our biggest contribution is to healthy diets and world food supplies. In addition, these new varieties also reduce CO2 emissions and you need less fertiliser and plant protection products, which has a positive impact on the climate. We are also examining transport, packaging materials and energy consumption within Royal HZPC Group B.V. But, while these areas are important, they do not make a huge difference; the really major changes will involve our growers and supply chain partners.
Everyone is aware of the need to grow more sustainably. We do have some concerns about the pace at which growers must make changes. The limits on the use of crop protection agents are continuously decreasing but it takes time to find good alternatives. There is also huge uncertainty about the future; if the rules change now, will they remain the same for the next 10 years? Growers want to modify their operations for the long term and be able to move forward accordingly. With the constant changes in laws and regulations, this is not easy.
In the Netherlands, we don't always realise how lucky we are
In the Netherlands, we don't always realise how lucky we are. We have the very best growing conditions for seed potatoes, when you consider the soil and climate. You can put this to good use to create high-quality basic material, which you can then use to produce food across the rest of the world. Some people wonder why we don’t just produce for the Netherlands. As far as we are concerned, however, it would be selfish to keep that potential to ourselves.