This week, a final look at The Under 40's visit to Benelux.
The 2015 Under 40's pose outside the 'Theater Hotel De Oranjerie' in Roermond
Tour of Veiling Haspengouw with Bart Wijgaerts - Haspengouw Marketing Manager
Fruit auction Veiling Haspengouw is a cooperation of growers of hard and soft fruits. The success of VH is built on the excellent quality of its fruit resulting from many years of professional experience, scientific research, environmentally-friendly growing and innovation.
History of Veiling Haspengouw
In 1939 a large group of fruit growers from the area around Sint-Truiden decided to join forces.
By cooperating they could market their produce jointly and further professionalise their activities.
In 1948, the Sint-Truiden auction became the natural extension of the fruit company and expanded its own infrastructure. In the meantime, on the initiative of the fruit auction managers, the Hesbania packing station had been set up in the vicinity. Veiling Haspengouw was finally established in 1975 when the fruit auction and Hesbania merged. That was the signal for an adventurous expansion of the site and some necessary renovations.
In the 1990s a start was made on the construction of a new administrative complex and the renovation of the storage facilities. To boost the fruit sector, at the beginning of the third millennium three fruit growing business centres were built: Haspengouw centers 1, 2 and 3. They are named after the Haspengouw quality mark that Veiling Haspengouw first launched in 1993. And so, three generations of personnel and managers/fruit-growers gave birth to Veiling Haspengouw.
The cooperative structure itself reduces costs. Grouping all the services under one roof also cuts costs for producers. It is continually investing in product developments and the introduction of new varieties. Close cooperation with various partners enables the auction to continually improve its expertise and, consequentially, the quality of the fruit.
Veiling Haspengouw has evolved from a regional auction into an internationally valued partner. It has roughly 400 members and 80 employees. Veiling Haspengouw is an international network with the focus on fruit. The auction works with breeding stations, variety developers, other cooperations and other similar organisations. Consequentially, the auction is permanently abreast of the latest techniques and able to regularly offer new fruit varieties.
Haspengoud
Haspengoud is the showpiece of Haspengouw's fruit growers. The label is only awarded to the very best apple and pear varieties. There is a whole range of strawberries, raspberries, cherries and other berries that offer Haspengoud quality. Haspengoud fruit is inspected daily for freshness, size, shape, hardness, colour and skin quality. The label insists on immaculate presentation in new crates with special crate cards.
During the visit U40 delegates saw the auction room, pear and apple grading lines and fruit storage facilities.
Clock auctions are a part of the marketing system in Benelux that we are not accustomed to in the UK;
A Dutch auction is characterized by its decreasing price mechanism. The auction starts at a relatively high price and repeatedly decreases the price until a "bid" is announced by one of the auction participants. The auction is then terminated and the bidder wins the auction. The Dutch auction got its name from the Dutch flower auction, where flowers are sold to traders.
This type of auction is also characterized by its speed. Usually the auctions are very short so that a lot of merchandise can be sold.
For an insight into how a Clock Auction operates click on Flower Market to see the largest flower auction in the world in action.
Below left: The Clock Auction Room - Below right: Part of the grading line at Veiling Haspengouw
Conference pears dominate pear production in Belgium and Jonagold represent 61% of all the apples grown.
Below left: Pear packing at Veiling Haspengouw - Below right: Jonagold is the favourite of Belgian apple growers
H-Fruit has 50,000 tonnes of refrigeration capacity at its disposal for long-term storage and over 5,000 tonnes for transit refrigeration. Each year, 50,000 tonnes of fruit is sorted and 35,000 tonnes of fruit is packaged.
Below left: Veiling Haspengouw cold stores - Below right: Packed fruit in the dispatch (transit) store
Click on Veiling Haspengouw to visit their website. Then 'Scroll down to bottom of page and Click on; HPPack to view Video.
Below left: Bart Wijaerts - Haspengouw Marketing Manager receives a thank you gift from Paul Hamlyn (right)
Below right: Under 40 delegates on the way to their last visit of 2015 Conference
Saturday 28th February; B.A.B. BAMPS Factory, St. Truiden
Tour of the B.A.B. BAMPS factory with owner Stefan Bamps.
B.A.B. BAMPS Lichtenberglaan 1053 Brustem-St.Truiden Belgium
B.A.B. BAMPS produces a wide range of fruit related machinery, from mowers and sprayers to fruit handling machines. As demands are constantly changing, B.A.B. is continuously making efforts in producing machines according to the latest technologies, while keeping them as simple as possible. B.A.B. is a company that has specialised in fruit growing machines and gained a lot of respect within the industry all across Europe and beyond.
Below - U40 delegates arrive at BAB Bamps factory - 'Toys for Boys'
Below left: Stefan Bamps owner of BAB Bamps with U40 delegates during the visit to his factory.
Stefan underlined the challenges of supplying the fruit industry; his fortunes follow the same irregular pattern of the growers he supplies. Due to the Russian embargo affecting growers profitability, his order profile is equally volatile, he illustrated the orders for sprayers might vary from 50 - 100 machines a season with similar variability across the full range of equipment.
Below left: Stefan Bamps with U40 delegates - Below right: a partly built pulverizer
The factory produces machinery only for the fruit industry and this requires a flexible approach, with specifications changing frequently to accommodate the needs of fruit growers. To see machinery in varying stages of manufacture was a fascinating experience; so often we see machinery as bright and shiny new machines 'on show' or as they arrive on the farm before losing their gloss to the daily workload, or as 'rusty metal' discarded behind a shed once their working life ends.
Below left: a 'part built' Hercules platform - Below right: Hercules Platform ready for delivery.
As a specialist manufacturer; BAB needs many specialized tools.
Below left: this drilling platform creates the basic format for many component parts - Below right: parts waiting for assembly
Click on BAB Bamps to explore more machinery options
Below left: On our journey home Charlie Dunn presented our brilliant Bus driver Vince with an U40 commemorative Pear! - Below right: U40 Secretary Harriet catching up with some well earned sleep!
Below: The Committee for 2017 Under 40's
In keeping with tradition, the last duty of the committee (2015) is to appoint a new committee for the 2017 U40 Conference.
L- R: Charlie Dunn - Paul Hamlyn - Jane Cusack - Verity Holdstock - Estera Amezs - Chris Levett
Finally, and a late entry to this week's Journal (it is now 1pm on Saturday 21st March) a picture sent to me by Sainsburys Dr Theresa Huxley - Technical Manager - Top Fruit & Stone Fruit and a group of friends about to set off on a fund raising bike ride in London.
A message from Theresa: "Yesterday afternoon (19th March) the Sainsburys fresh Foods team did 'Funny for Money' and I was in the A C Goatham team along with Peter my stone fruit supply chain manager - We all experienced new sights in London including "Hodge" , an elephant or a very appropriate Red Cow for Red Nose Day - AND Can you believe it £45,000 raised !!
Well done Theresa and all members of Sainsburys Fresh Food Team - I can see Nigel Stewart - Technical Director at A.C.Goatham 'unmistakable behind his Red Nose' ready and 'rarin to go'
That is all for this week..........
Take care
The English Apple Man