Thanet Earth Update
In the first week of April 2008, there will be made a beginning with the construction of the new glasshouse of 10 ha of Cor and Dirk van der Kaaij of Red Star Trading.

On the area of A&A de Gier and Rainbow Growers the start of the glasshouse construction will take place half of April.

Dutch orange bell peppers are back on sale
at Rainbow
The first kilos of Dutch orange bell peppers are back on sale at the Rainbow Growers Group. C.A. van der Houwen BV was the first Rainbow grower to harvest orange bell peppers this week. Altogether, Cor van der Houwen has 20,000 m2 of the Orange Glorie variety.

Tomato grower Red-Kes harvests its first trusses
Tomato grower Red-Kes in Honselersdijk has 46,000 m2 of cluster tomatoes, of which the first sweet and juicy trusses were harvested this past week. Red-Kes sorts and packs the cluster tomatoes in various ways while the process is being supervised by father (Theo sr.) and son (Theo jr.) Kester. The tomatoes are then marketed by Rainbow Growers Group, to which Red-Kes belongs.

Vitaminis for VMBO students at Holland College
Today, the students in the first class of the Holland College in Naaldwijk had a ‘lesson’ from cook Pierre Wind on healthy nutrition. There was much enthusiasm in the kitchen of the Holland College, where Pierre Wind went to work with the students using various fresh products. Rainbow Growers Group from de Lier is one of the sponsors of this project, Gezond en Wel (Healthy and Happy), which was initiated by the Westland municipality. For all the students of Holland College, Rainbow provided individual bags of Vitaminis, a healthy and tasty selection of Dutch-grown produce including sweet cherry tomatoes and snack-sized cucumbers and bell peppers.

Dutch yellow bell peppers are back on
sale at Rainbow
The first kilos of Dutch yellow bell peppers are back on sale at the Rainbow Growers Group. Powergrow BV in de Kwakel was the first Rainbow grower to harvest yellow bell peppers this week. Altogether, Powergrow has 112,000 m2 of the Derby variety.

Rainbow Growers harvest their first Dutch
aubergines in 2008
This week Rainbow Growers Tom and Anita Bos harvested their first aubergines for 2008. They grow the top variety Scorpio on 40,000 m2 in Vierpolders, and they sort and pack their products in their own facility. In the Agricultural Logistics Centre of Rainbow in de Lier, the aubergines are marketed and flowpacked if required.

Dutch red bell peppers available again from Rainbow Growers
As of today, Dutch red bell peppers are available again from Rainbow Growers. The first of these red bell peppers are of the Spider variety and were grown by De Wieringermeer. The bell peppers are sorted, packed and marketed in the Agricultural Logistics Centre of Rainbow in de Lier.

Experienced help for the Rainbow sales team during busy NL season
During the Dutch-grown produce season, from  1 April  until 1 October 2008, the sales team of Rainbow Growers Group will be strengthened by Arjen Bouma and Frank Mosterd from Gilad Produce BV. Frank will be responsible for some of the bell pepper sales and Arjen will work with various other products. Rainbow has temporarily hired Arjen and Frank because the Group will continue to grow in 2008, with approximately 15 ha more products to be sold.

New Rainbow member Arjan de Gier harvests first cucumbers
Rainbow Growers Group has a new member this year: Arjan de Gier from Klazienaveen. Arjan grows 6 ha of cucumbers of the Venice and Euphoria varieties, and he will harvest his first cucumbers today. The cucumbers are sorted and packed in boxes at Arjan's facility. The sales and the specialised customer packing, including processes like sealing, takes place at the main Rainbow facility.

Rainbow: first snack cucumbers for 2008 are
available
Rainbow Growers has harvested its first snack cucumbers for 2008. The variety Cocktail Queen is being grown in the Westland on 10,000 m2 and will be available for the rest of the year. The snack cucumbers are being packed and sold for clients as part of the Vitaminis produce line, which is available in individual serving bags, on trays or as part of an assorted snack tray. Other packing forms are available as well.

The snack cucumbers are sorted, packed and sold by the Rainbow Growers Group.

De Wieringermeer harvests the first green bell peppers
The management of De Wieringermeer (Front row, dressed in white shirts, from left to right, Daaf Steentjes, Patrick Grootscholten and John van Marrewijk; standing second from right, Arco Vreugdenhil) and the team of company supervisors proudly display their first harvest for 2008. The green bell peppers were grown in their new, 10 ha artificially lighted greenhouse.

The total production area of the company is now 30 ha; they grow the Spider variety. The green bell peppers are the first type to be harvested, followed by red bell peppers. Beginning on week 10, the second greenhouse of 10 ha will start production, followed by the third 10 ha greenhouse in week 11.

De Wieringermeer is a member of the Rainbow Growers Group, which sorts, packs and markets the bell peppers.

First green chilli peppers from Golden Capsicum harvested
The first green chilli peppers from grower Golden Capsicum were harvested this past week. Director Aad Hendriks is also expecting to start harvesting the first red chilli peppers around week 10. The green and red chilli peppers will be available for the rest of the year. Golden Capsicum in Poeldijk grows the Medina variety on 21,000 m2. The Growing Capsicum operation in Monster is has another 20,000 m2 of Medina chilli peppers.

Grower Golden Capsicum and Growing Capsicum are members of the Rainbow Growers Group, which sorts, packs and markets the chilli peppers.

Own production of cucumbers from February 2008
From February 2008, Rainbow offers cucumbers from their own grower Arjan de Gier. Arjan cultivates a diversity of species on a surface area of 3 ha.. The expectation is that the harvest season of this top product will start in February and last until December. There are many packing options, so feel free to contact us and found out what the possibilities are.

Contact person for sales will be Leon Zwinkels (Tel. +31 174 524 11 20 or e-mail leon@rainbow-growers.nl)

Special attention to the Dutch product
AGF Promotie Nederland organized an interesting schedule for journalists from several European Countries and German buyers on 12 and 13 November to promote the Dutch product. The group visited prominent companies of the Dutch horticultural chain of industry, including De Ruiter Seeds, The Greenery and Rainbow Growers.

Read the article from Fresh Produce Journal (pdf)

Thanet Earth activities officially started
At the 91 hectare site based in north Kent activities have officially started with levelling the ground. The official start of this unique project by Wim Grootscholten (Chairman of Rainbow), and Chris Mack (Chairman of Fresca Group) took place in the presence of people of A&A Growers, Red Star, Rainbow Growers, the press and several other parties. When the construction is completed, Thanet Earth has the largest glasshouse horticultural area on British soil.

In Memoriam Leo Bruinen
On 2th of November, we got the sad news of the sudden death of Leo Bruinen. Leo was member of Rainbow from 1998, the year Rainbow officially started. As a grower, he was an expert in cultivating spinach and salad. He started growing green peppers on substrate, when the cultivation in plane soil was no longer possible. Leo will be remembered by Rainbow as a enthusiastic and spontaneous member, who never missed a meeting and who delivered vegetables of top quality. We wish his wife Magda, their sons Don, Mike and Roy and their families all the strength they need.

Student wins Ipod with Vitamini’s slogan
The selected winner, Daphne Holdorp from Haarlem, has won an IpodClassic with her slogan for the Vitamini´s snacks; ‘Vitamini’s het verste snoepje van nu’.

In cooperation with Groenwerkt of the Horticultural Marketing Board, Rainbow asked students during a trade fair, to invent a slogan for our mini vegetables. 152 students have eventually invented and send in a slogan. The competition was mainly mend to show the students that the horticultural line of business has many aspects.

Change of staff
Our Account Manager, Sara Notenboom, has found a new challenge in her life. She starts her own company in the line of placement activities. Her last day at the office has been 13th October of this year. We wish her all the best with her new career.

Our Public Relations Manager, Iwan van Vliet, has chosen to live an adventurous life in 2008. He and his girlfriend will be travelling around the world next year by bicycle. At the end of December, we will have to say goodbye to him. We wish him a whole lot of fun.

We like to introduce to you our new Public Relations Manager, Ingrid Plomp. She started at our office on the first of November. Over the last ten years, she worked in different lines of business in the field of marketing and pr. We wish her good luck in this new position

Vitamini’s nominated for Fresh & Cash Export Award
and Misset Catering Award
The snack vegetable line of Rainbow, Vitamini’s, is nominated for the German orientated Fresh & Cash Export Award 2007 and Dutch Misset Catering Award 2007.

The Misset Catering Award is an initiative of Misset Catering, the biggest catering trade journal of Holland. Vitamini’s is one of the candidates to be awarded as best product innovation within the catering branch 2007. The winner will be announced on the 8th of November.

The Fresh & Cash Export Award is an initiative of ABN AMRO, together with the German trade journal Fruchthandel Magazin, Frugi Venta, HBAG Duitsland Desk and Vakblad AGF. Vitamini’s is one of the likely winners in the category marketing innovations. The winner will be announced on the 13th of November.

Candy vegetables at the counter of
Plus Supermarket

Chocolate candies at the counter, can you resist them? To give customers a healthy alternative, 24 Dutch Plus supermarkets have started with the promotional sale of candy vegetables at the counter. Customers can choose between crispy snack cucumbers (Rainbow), honey sweet candy tomatoes (Looije) and sweet snack capsicums (UWG). The results are promising, which means that this unique promotion will be repeated in 2008.

Rainbow Growers Group, Redstar and A&A start
own production in UK
In a groundbreaking joint venture agreement, the UK’s largest fresh produce supplier, Fresca Group, has teamed up with Rainbow Growers Group, Redstar and A&A in a move that will revolutionise the UK’s supply of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. By teaming up together at Thanet Earth, Rainbow Growers Group, Redstar, A&A and Fresca have fulfilled their ambition to create the UK’s largest salad growing and marketing company with the ability to deliver a complete basket of greenhouse products.

The 91-hectare site based in north Kent is now officially named Thanet Earth and will accommodate seven eight-metre high glasshouses, each with an average size of over seven hectares. Product for product, it’s anticipated that Thanet Earth will provide an additional 15% to current UK production levels.

Wim Grootscholten, Chairman of Rainbow Growers Group explained the growers are all eager to begin their UK operations. “Our relationship with the people at Fresca stretches back over many years. That’s why when they began discussing the project with us, we knew it would provide the perfect expansion opportunity. We also knew we were working with a partner we could trust. Thanet Earth is the perfect development for us – using Fresca’s market knowledge and our growing expertise – I think we’ve got a winning formula.

Successful official opening pepper growers
Powergrow
With a festive bang, allot of serpentine and a whole lot of champagne, the greenhouse complex of pepper grower Powergrow and Van Rijn Roses where officially opened on the 23rd of June. After that, colleagues, neighbours, relatives, distributors and those interested were invited to see how these modern horticulture companies created the optimum in energy use and energy recruitments. The nearly 4000 visitors stared one’s eyes out/ Powergrow and Van Rijn Roses are ready for the future.

Small children, small cucumbers
What do children of 4-12 years and snack cucumbers have in common? They go literally en figurative hand in hand. Tuesday morning, 40 little children of children centre KrisKras from Maasdijk and children centre DoReMi from Naaldwijk visited the snack cucumber greenhouse of Rainbow. In here they could see with their own eyes how the snack cucumbers grow and were enthusiastically told about the growing process. After the guided tour, they all went on the photo and got themselves a tasteful snack bag of Vitamini’s snack cucumbers and honey tomatoes for their picnic.

Unemployment Wieringermeer decreased with
nearly 25% due to the arrival of greenhouses
‘Since the first tomatoes and peppers where harvested last autumn in Agriport A7, unemployment has decreased with 24,8 percent in the surrounding areas’, says the municipality of Wieringermeer. At this moment four-, up to five hundred employees work in the greenhouses of Rainbow pepper growers Kwekerij De Wieringermeer and APG tomato growers Royal Pride. The municipality expects the employment in this area to double when the other four horticulture companies start to harvest next autumn.

Update expansion Growers De Wieringermeer
In spite of the continuing rainfall of the last weeks, the glaziers of Growers De Wieringermeer expect to finish their work this week. New pepper plants will fill the new part of Growers De Wieringermeer at the second half of November and will be grown under 5.200 lux of growing light. Momentarily, the heating room is equipped with the boiler and one of the two WKK installations. At the end of this year Kwekerij De Wieringermeer will be 30 hectares big.

Honey tomatoes win Grocer Award
Last month the honey tomatoes of Looije won the Grocer Award in the category ‘Fresh Products’. Due to a maximum score, the honey tomatoes won with great distance from the competition. The jury especially praised the taste of the tomatoes: ‘‘bursting with flavour’, ‘smelt divine’, ‘very sweet and juicy’. Beautiful words for a great product.

Rainbow obtains certificate IFS and QS
From today on, Rainbow is IFS and QS certified. IFS stand for International Food Standard. A certificate for food safety which the most prominent supermarkets in Germany and French demand from their suppliers. QS stands for Qualität und Sicherheit (quality and certainty), a quality care system related to the whole chain, to ensure the quality from grower to consumer. Next to IFS and QS, Rainbow certified itself this month again with the English BRC and Dutch HACCP certificate.

23 June open day pepper horticulture Powergrow

On the occasion of the official opening of their new horticulture, pepper growers Powergrow and Van Rijn Roses open their doors on Saterday 23 June. Come and see these new horticultures with its many innovations.


When?    Saturday 23 June 2007
What time? From 1pm – 5pm
Location?   Dwarsweg
Place?        De Kwakel, Holland

Egypt visits Rainbow
A delegation of 25 Egyptian pepper growers visited the Agrarian Logistic Centre of Rainbow on Friday the 13th of April. With a total production of 390 million kilogram of peppers in 2006, Egypt belongs to the eighth biggest pepper growing countries in the world and is still expanding. Growing of the peppers is mainly done in tunnel greenhouses. Visiting Rainbow was a part of an extensive Holland-programme. The Egyptian growers were impressed by the way Rainbow works together and about the ultra modern sorting and packing station. Something they want to achieve within the next five years.

‘Healthy food from a friendly company’
Valentijn school thanks Rainbow for donating
Vitamini’s
‘What a cute cucumbers. Can you eat them?’ Schoolboys and girls of primary school Valentijn in Rotterdam where happily surprised with the Vitamini’s Rainbow donated them for the national ‘Week of Health. In this week many activities where developed to support the youth to live a healthy life. A theme that suits Vitamini’s ideally.

Open day Rainbow exceeds every expectation
Normally the expedition hall of Rainbow is loaded with peppers. But not during the open day last Saturday. That day more than 3.000 people walked the marked trail through the expedition-, sorting, packing- and office halls of Rainbow. For the first time in its history at the Poortcamp, Rainbow opened all his doors to celebrate its ten years anniversary.

At the end of the route guests were offered some exclusive snacks prepared with Rainbow’s own products made by a first-class cook and got entertained by a shanties group and Carnival band. Kids could enjoy themselves at the kids corner with an air cushion, grease paint and balloons.

Altogether we can conclude that the open day was very successful. Colleagues, customers, employees, neighbours, relations and of course people from all around Westland came to Rainbow to see how we do things. Many people were surprised by the size of Rainbow, the enthusiasm of its employees and the professional way we work. Enough compliments to keep the good work going for at least another ten years.

Wieringermeer wins Noord-Holland business price
On 14 March Anton Hiemstra and Jack Kranenburg, the driving spirits behind Agriport A7 in the Wieringermeer, won the Noord-Holland Business award 2006 with superior strength from diet guru Sonja Bakker.

The jury praised the couple for realising a big scale green-house- and business complex in such a short time. They created hundreds of hectares for greenhouse farming, of which Kwekerij Wieringermeer, a greenhouse complex of 60 hectares from Rainbow Growers Patrick Grootscholten, Daaf Steentjes and John van Marrewijk, is a good example.

5 May open day ‘Kwekerij De Wieringermeer’
Rainbow Growers John van Marrewijk, Patrick Grootscholten and Daaf Steentjes started ‘Kwekerij De Wieringermeer’ in 2005. Their pepper greenhouse of 60 hectares is situated in the top of the province Noord-Holland, directly at highway A7. The first 20 hectares are build and the first harvest is expected this Friday. Because of this, Kwekerij De Wieringermeer opens his doors on Saturday 5 May from 1 - 5PM for the big public.

Vitaminis wins prestigious Fruit Logistica Innovation Award
Veg snack line of Rainbow clearly the most popular innovation in Berlin

During the closing day of the Fruit Logistica in Berlin, Vitaminis were proclaimed as the best innovation of the year. The vegetable snack line of the grower cooperative Rainbow won the election with a significant lead over the other nominations. After the nomination by a special jury, the general public appeared decisive in naming Vitaminis the most appealing new product, during the worlds leading international exhibition for fruit and vegetables.

Vitaminis is the brand which Rainbow uses for the marketing of three healthy snack products: crispy fresh cocktail cucumbers, sweet snack capsicums and honeysweet cherry tomatoes. This complete snack line provides the consumer with health, taste and convenience – all in one, while appearance plays an important part in its presentation. By choosing tasteful, more sweeter vegetable products, the enjoyment of both large and small consumers is served.

Meeting demand
According to Iwan van Vliet, PR- and communications manager: “That both a special jury and the public have chosen Vitaminis en masse, gives an enormous kick. During the past months, the team of Rainbow has worked hard on the expansion and perfection of the mini vegetable snack line and this has paid off now. To win with a great lead shows that we’re meeting a significant demand. Therefore we will deliver the utmost effort to further expand the line during the coming period.”

FresQ-wide
The Vitaminis snack line presently features three products from three different FresQ-divisions. The cocktail tomato proceeds from Rainbow, the snack capsicum from United West Growers and the honeysweet tomato from Looije. A mix bag of the three products is also possible and the first test results have been really positive.

Vitamini’s on Innovation Presentation Area
Fruit Logistica 2007
As nominee for the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award, you get some extra attention during Fruit Logistica. This result in a special exhibition area reserved for the nominees of this great price. The name of this exhibition area? Innovation Presentation Area. This is the place where the expected 30.000 – 40.000 visitors will vote for the best innovation of the year. Vote on Vitamini’s!

You can also find Vitamini’s on the stand of Rainbow. Rainbow is a part of the stand of FresQ. Together with Seasun, Van vliet, United West Growers, Red Star Trading and Action Pearl Growers you’ll find Rainbow in hall 3.0/D-06.

Winner ADN Innovation Award, Vitamini’s, treats
greengrocers on promotion package
Thanks to the handy snack size of the products Cocktail Cucumbers, Sweet Snack Peppers and Honey Tomatoes, as well as the trendy snack packaging, the unique and healthy Vitamini’s snack line was chosen by the greengrocers in Holland as ADN Innovation Award 2006.

Free promotion package
To express our thanks, we like to reward the Dutch greengrocers by means of a super promotional offer. This promotional offer will last for the whole month of February. By purchase of a box (ten snack size bags) of Sweet Snack Peppers, Cocktail Cucumbers and Honey Tomatoes, the undertaker receives a complete promotion to the value of € 10 for FREE. The promotion package consists out of:

• 25 handy full colour folders;
• luxury A3 full colour ceiling card with TL-hooks;
• stylish full colour counter display card;
• conspicuous A4 full colour poster.

Vitamini’s, the healthy snack. Always, everywhere.

Growin CV and Stegrow VOF Nature’s Choice
certified
Rainbow growers Patrick Grootscholten (Growin CV) as well as Daaf Steentjes (Stegrow VOF) have been Nature’s Choice certified last month. By complying with the code of practice of Nature’s Choice, these growers can supply the British supermarket Tesco. This Code identifies key principles and practices which when complied with by Tesco’s Producers and Suppliers of fresh fruit, vegetables and salads, will ensure that their production and produce handling systems are sustainable, environmentally sound and responsible. Tesco aim to have all their Producers and Suppliers meeting the requirements laid down in the Code of Practice by 2006. The code covers the following:

• rational use of plant protection products;
• rational use of fertilisers and manures;
• pollution prevention;
• protection of human health;
• efficient use of energy, water and other natural resources;
• recycling and re-use of materials;
• wildlife and landscape conservation and enhancement.

Congratulations Patrick and Daaf!

Rainbow Growers Group celebrates 10-years
anniversary with open day
Rainbow Growers Group exists ten years in 2007. A milestone. Because of this special occasion, Rainbow opens his doors on Saterday the 31st of March. Persons interested will get the opportunity to take a look in the ‘logistic kitchen’ of Rainbow from 14.00 until 17.00 hours. The Agricultural Logistic Centre is located at the Poortcamp in De Lier, Holland.

In ten years time, Rainbow has grown from a modest growers association up to a professional organisation where quality is for the utmost importance. Rainbow’s aim is to strive for the shortest line between grower and consumer.

Walking route
During the open day, Rainbow is pleased to show what they have built up with her members and employees. By means of a marked walking route through the logistic centre, visitors can enjoy a couple of demonstrations. From a very professional way of sorting, up tot a completely automated packing line, everything will be visible during this open day. Next to this, there is an opportunity for the suppliers of Rainbow to show their product.

Snack and drink
After the walking tour trough the ‘logistic kitchen’ of Rainbow, visitors have got the opportunity to drink, eat and talk. Snacks will be prepared with Rainbow’s own products; bell peppers, (vine)tomatoes, aubergine, courgette, peppers and cocktail cucumbers. There is also entertainment for the kids. A special children playground will be available. Of course accompanied by an enthusiastic entertainment team.

Vitamini’s chosen as innovation of the year
During the annual meeting of branch organisation ADN, the greengrocers of Holland declared the Vitamini’s snack line of Rainbow Growers Group, as innovation of the year. Thanks to the handy snack size of the products Mini Cucumbers, Sweet Snack Peppers and Honey Tomatoes, as well as the trendy snack package, this unique and above all healthy snack line won the first prize.

In a packed auction hall at Geldermalsen, the more than 150 greengrocers agreed unanimously that the Vitamini’s snackline was the innovative hit of 2006. Before the distribution of prizes, Wim Grootscholten (one of the speakers of the evening) explained something about Rainbow and the different products within the Vitamini’s snack line. Next to this, five mix boxes of Vitamini’s (50 bags a box) where auctioned. The yield of this, more than 600 euro, was given in full, to the Dutch Cancer Foundation KWF.

First Dutch Cocktail Cucumbers grown under
artificial light by Rainbow
‘Nothing is impossible; growing Cocktail Cucumbers under artificial light isn’t either’. That’s what Wim Grootscholten must have thought when he started growing Cocktail Cucumbers mid November under artificial light. In spite of the fact that seed improvement companies told him it was impossible to do so, now, a month and six harvests later, he proved the opposite. His trial of 2.000 square meters has been a success.

Rainbow didn’t expect the first harvest of Cocktail cucumbers before Christmas. Therefore it was quite a surprise that Wim Grootscholten in person delivered the first 100 kilogram of Cocktail Cucumbers on Monday the 11th of December at the office in De Lier. The shape of the Cocktail Cucumbers is perfectly small, the quality of high standards and the taste unbeatable. Years of growing experiences of Wim Grootscholten have worked out perfectly again.

Because of the successful trial, Rainbow is the first in Holland with Cocktail Cucumbers grown under artificial light, this moment. Even better: Rainbows’ the only one with Dutch Cocktail Cucumbers this month! And you can take advantage of this. Contact Sara Notenboom (+31 174 524 11 84 or sara@rainbow-growers.nl) for more information about the Cocktail Cucumbers or selling prices. Be quick, ‘cause the daily supply of this great product is still low.

Own production of courgettes from March 2007
From March 2007, Rainbow offers green courgettes from their own grower Mike Bruinen. Mike starts growing courgettes (20.000 square meters) the first of February and expects to harvest at the beginning of March. The expectation is that the harvest season of this top product will last until July. There are many packing options, so feel free to contact us and found out what the possibilities are.

Contact person for sales will be Leon Zwinkels.
Telephone number +31 174 524 11 20
or e-mail leon@rainbow-growers.nl.

Mayor and aldermen visit Rainbow Growers Group
On Tuesday the 21st of November, the mayor and aldermen of the municipality Westland, visited Rainbow Growers Group in De Lier. During their visit they where informed about the start of Rainbow Growers Group at the Herenwerf, the realisation of the Agrarian Logistic Centre (ALC) Poortcamp, the new construction projects at De Kwakel and Wieringermeer and the future vision of Rainbow. After a guided tour through the processing hall, there was a discussion about the glasshouse horticulture lobby platform Greenport Zuid-Holland (of which Westland is a part) and the facilities the municipality Westland can offer for a good undertakers climate in the municipality Westland.

Rainbow Growers Nature’s Choice certified
Rainbow growers Mike Bruinen, Peet van der Knaap and Cor van der Houwen have been Nature’s Choice certified last month. By complying with the code of practice of Nature’s Choice, these growers can supply the British supermarket Tesco. This Code identifies key principles and practices which when complied with by Tesco’s Producers and Suppliers of fresh fruit, vegetables and salads, will ensure that their production and produce handling systems are sustainable, environmentally sound and responsible. Tesco aim to have all their Producers and Suppliers meeting the requirements laid down in the Code of Practice by 2006. The code covers the following:

• rational use of plant protection products;
• rational use of fertilisers and manures;
• pollution prevention;
• protection of human health;
• efficient use of energy, water and other natural resources;
• recycling and re-use of materials;
• wildlife and landscape conservation and enhancement.

BRC Level A Certificate for Rainbow Kleinpak
Last week Rainbow Kleinpak gained the BRC Level A certificate. Level A is the highest feasible BRC-level! Rainbow has also obtained the HACCP- certificate again. Supermarkets attach great importance to food safety. To guarantee this food safety the supermarkets want to have the certainty of the suppliers that every measure has been taken to prevent problems. Especially for food producing companies a code has been developed in England which forms the foundation for an audit on food safety. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has developed and distributed this code. The certifying institution has written a BRC-report based on the audit at Rainbow Kleinpak. Rainbow can send this report to their customers to show that they fulfill all requirements.

Visit of political party CDA
A delegation of the political party CDA (Christian Democrats) visited Rainbow Growers Group last June 19th. Not only some regional politicians participated, but also member of the Lower House Jan Mastwijk. The CDA-members thought that it’s important to take a look at some Westland agricultural companies to see what’s going on in the Dutch agricultural sector. Also the energy issue was subject of discussion: the high energy costs put a lot of pressure on the Dutch growers. Of course the participants of the visit didn’t only talk about problems, but also about solutions: the innovations, the large-scaled projects, the ever-increasing automation and the energy saving measures indicate the resilience and the entrepreneurship of the Dutch agricultural sector. Rainbow Growers Group is a very good example of it! Jan Mastwijk wrote on his website www.janmastwijk.nl: “It was striking to see that the growers do see a future for themselves if they will be capable to invest in technology and in developments. In this way it will be possible to save money per square meter. It was very useful to get this information in the build-up to the discussion in the Dutch Lower House about financial support for these plans.” Of course in the future Rainbow Growers Group welcomes other local and national politicians!

New vegetables snack range available at
Rainbow Growers Group
Rainbow Growers Group has been busy with the development of a new, professional packaging for their snack cucumbers and snack peppers. Rainbow Growers Group already has been selling these products for a while, but was still looking for the right packaging for the ready-to-eat market. The packaging is a pre-printed plastic bag with a square bottom which is also suitable for vending machines. The new packaging will be sold under the name of Vitamini’s. In the future the Vitamini’s range can be extended with other healthy vegetables snacks. More infor-mation about Vitamini’s can be found on www.vitaminis.nl (at the moment unfortunately only available in Dutch).

Graduated!
The development of her employees is very important for Rainbow Growers Group. Not only for the employees themselves, but also because of the fact that the performance of Rainbow Growers Group will improve by the skilled staff. At Rainbow 2 employees have recently graduated. Quality manager Cor van Gaalen has obtained quite a lot of certificates with good marks. He didn’t do only a further training course for inspection of vegetables, but also courses for quality employee/inspector of exotics and citrus fruit. Moreover, Rainbow employee Leonie van der Kooij completed her study Commercial Economics two weeks ago at the The Hague School of Economics. After writing her export research she defended her thesis at the end of June. She did this with success: her final mark was an 8! Congratulations Cor and Leonie!

Second grading machine into operation
The second grading machine of Rainbow Growers Group came into operation at the beginning of May. This grading machine is almost a copy of the current machine and can grade according to weight, size and pieces. Rainbow Growers Group is now able to sort around 1,8 million kilo's of capsicum a week. The new machine became necessary because the "old" machine sometimes had to grade 22 hours a day last year!

Logistics moves to bigger office
Because of the large growth of the logistics department of Rainbow Kleinpak the current office of 6,5 m2 became too small. Rainbow Kleinpak thinks big: at the moment they're busy with the construction of a two-storied office with a total surface of 81 m2. This is more than 12 times bigger than the current office! The new office is build the dispatch warehouse, nearby the old office. The quality department of Rainbow Growers Group will move to the second floor of the new office.

The state of the large-scaled greenhouse project Wieringermeer
The large-scaled greenhouse project in the Wieringermeer is making progress. Nobody objected to the construction of the company. Kwekerij (Nursery) De Wieringermeer expects to receive permit the 6th of June. In the meantime owners and Rainbow growers Daaf Steentjes, John van Marrewijk and Patrick Grootscholten gave green light to start with the groundwork. Their planning is to plant the 2 blocks of 10 hectares each the 1st of December this year. Kwekerij De Wieringermeer will sort their capsicum at Rainbow to be sure of equal quality standards.
For more information about Kwekerij De Wieringermeer, please go to www.kwekerijdewieringermeer.nl (unfortunately only in Dutch).

RIK-certificering for Rainbow Kleinpak
Rainbow Kleinpak meets all requirements of the RIK certificate (Regulation of Internal Quality control) since this month. RIK companies have certain advantages concerning the control for export, import and the internal market. Rainbow Kleinpak needed to show good test results of the last 6 months. This means that the percentage of rejection of the distributed products at Rainbow Kleinpak must have been less than 10% during the last half year. The dates of the KCB (Quality Control Office) as well as of the PD (Plant Protection Service) have been evaluated. The requirements of the RIK certificate haven't been a problem at all for Rainbow Kleinpak: Rainbow product already has to comply with the strictest requirements since the formation of the growers' association. The Rainbow quality managers check every order and Rainbow Kleinpak already had the BRC Higher Level and the HACCP certificates. The advantage of the RIK-certificate is that only 5% of the export orders outside the EU have...

Rainbow Growers Group hands out capsicum and snack cucumbers
Rainbow Growers Group handed out packagings with capsicum and snack cucumbers on a regional market in De Lier the 6th of May. On the sticker of the packagings Rainbow Growers Group asked for new employees because of the growth of the company. Rainbow Growers Group also wanted to find out the response of the consumer to the Rainbow vegetables and to try to get the name Rainbow more known in the region. The response to the flowpacked capsicum as well as to the small bags with 3 Calimero's was very positive. Whether the action has resulted in new Rainbow employees still remains to be seen.

Rainbow grower John van Marrewijk on television
The Dutch television programme McDonalds Kitchen approached Rainbow Growers Group a couple of weeks ago. In this programme television cook Andy McDonald surprises his public with a new way of cooking: healthy, tasty and without meat or fish. Together with co host Bas Westerweel McDonald crosses the country looking for passion for and the origin of food. This time McDonald’s Kitchen was looking for an ecological grower who could speak in a passionate way about his profession. Via internet and the environmentally-friendly character of the Rainbow website the producers of the programme came out at Rainbow Growers Group. Host Bas Westerweel was already at John van Marrewijk’s door 3 days later. Among other things John grows the baby cue for Rainbow Growers Group. He surprised the complete television crew by showing them also his other “weird” vegetables like the on small scale growed cherry pepper and the tomato pepper. It became clear to Bas after an extensive explanation of the cultivation and the company: John is a grower with passion!

Again large-scaled greenhouse project at
Rainbow Growers Group
After the announcement of the Wieringermeer project of Rainbow growers Patrick Grootscholten, Daaf Steentjes and John van Marrewijk (see Dutch language site www.kwekerijdewieringermeer.nl) another project has started this month. Rainbow growers Tom Baak, Tom Bos, Huub Zuidgeest, Sjaak Kester, Peet van der Knaap and Sem van Zijl have bought some land together with Rainbow Kleinpak manager Marcel Kortekaas and a rose grower. The growers will be in production with 12 hectares in the region De Kwakel (nearby Aalsmeer, southern Noord-Holland) next year. The Rainbow growers very consciously made the decision to cooperate with the rose grower: they bought the land together and they will also cluster energy by means of a TE (Total Energy)-installation. The rose grower will especially use the installation for the light and the Rainbow growers for the produced warmth. Hereafter in this newsletter you can find some more information about the working of a TE-installation. Rainbow wishes the participants of the project a lot of success with the preparations!

Rainbow Growers Group co-founder of P8
The cooperation of Capsicum Holland is a fact: in the presence of the notary and the independent chairman Thijs Jasperse the P8 has been founded the 10th of March. Because of the low capsicum prices the 8 Dutch capsicum growers’ associations decided to join forces in the organisation P8. Besides Rainbow Growers Group the 8 founders are Best Growers Benelux (sales by Haluco), Tradition (sales by Bocchi), VDT (sales by VDN), VTN (sales by The Greenery), Pamosa (sales by ZON), United West Growers (sales by UWG) and Growing Excellence (sales by Van Noort). The aim of the P8 is to improve the market position of the Dutch capsicum grower by means of interchanging knowledge and information and through standardizing processes.

FresQ Kick Off 2006 big success
The yearly Kick Off of FresQ took place the 9th of March. Customers, members, relations and employees were welcome at 4 o’clock for a guided tour at the very modern warehouse of the Van der Lans growers. A very good location for the Kick Off theme “Innovation by Nature”! The Van der Lans employees gave an explanation of growing under artificial light, the total energy installation and of the different tomato varieties during this tour.  After the official opening speech of FresQ chairman Pleun van Dijk a couple of dancers showed all new FresQ products. Of course more than enough time was left to talk and to drink and eat something. More than 400 visitors of different sectors like supermarkets, seed companies, interest groups and growers witnessed a very successful Kick Off!

• Storage: Rainbow Kleinpak has the disposal of temperature controlled halls, varying from 1 to 30 degrees Celcius!
• Crossdocking.

The state of the new construction project
The end of the new construction project is in sight: the construction company will finish its work at the end of this year. The offices already have been decorated and also furnish will be placed this week. At the beginning of next year the renters will move into their offices. Furthermore, the new and “old” halls now are connected by a couple of passages. And last, but not least, last week the second grading machine has been brought and will be installed the coming weeks.

Fair Wieringermeer
In honour of the 75th anniversary of the district of Wieringermeer (in the North Western part of Holland) last 4 till 6 November a big fair took place. The stands of the various regional exhibitors were built in one the 3 halls with a total area of 12.000 m2. Also Kwekerij De Wieringermeer, the company of Rainbow members Daaf Steentjes, John van Marrewijk and Patrick Grootscholten had their own stand. The growers showed how their company will look like and what the exact plans are for the future: in 2007 they hope to have finished the first 20 hectares of greenhouses. The next step is building another 40 hectares in 2 phases. Rainbow Growers Group is very happy to have this big and modern company as a member!
For more information about Kwekerij De Wieringermeer you can go to www.kwekerijdewieringermeer.nl (dutch only).

Rainbow Growers Group grows at request
By special request of some of the regular customers Rainbow Growers Group will not only grow snack cucumber Calimero but on a small scale they will start growing some other specialties as well. It is getting more important for supermarkets to distinguish themselves from their competitors by offering their customers new types of vegetables. Of course Rainbow Growers Group likes to contribute to this!

Champagne!
In the presence of all employees Rainbow Growers Group’s chairman Wim Grootscholten officially has opened the new halls of the Agricultural Logistics Centre. At the 1st of November he cut the tape and gave all employees a guided tour of the warehouse. Of course some bottles of champagne were dispatched during working hours…!

Name of snack cucumber Rainbow Growers Group
Rainbow Growers Group made a decision about the name of its snack cucumber. Considering the size of this crispy small cucumber, Rainbow Growers Group chose the name of Calimero. The development of new packagings for Calimero is well under way. For more information over Calimero please contact Renske van der Spek, renske@rainbow-growers.nl of +31 (0)174 524 132.

AGF Totaal 2005
From 12 till 14 September Rainbow Growers Group as well as Red Star Trading participated at AGF Totaal, the international fruit and vegetable fair. Although AGF Totaal 2005 attracted less visitors than the edition before, the white modern stand of both growers’ associations received more than enough attention. Current business relations as well as new contacts visited the stand and showed their interest in Rainbow Growers Group and Red Star Trading. Fruit Logistica in Berlin is the next fair where the colleague growers’ associations can be found, this time under the colours of FresQ. We hope to see you there!

For more information about Fruit Logistica please visit www.fruitlogistica.com.

The state of the new construction project
The new construction project of the Agricultural Logistics Centre of Rainbow Growers Group still goes according to planning. At the moment the finishing touch of the interior of the hall and the office blocks is taking place. In December Rainbow Growers Group hopes to make a start with placing the machines. More information about the new construction project can be found on this website.