Expect More from the West Coast Leader in Hydroponics

SUPPLEMENT
Hollandia Poducts CEO Pete Overgaag
Expect More from the West Coast
Leader in Hydroponics
“More” Innovation, Quality and Sustainability
are Keys to Hollandia’s Success
by Rob Bryant, supplement features editor
I
n the last 17 years, Hollandia Produce, L.P. has
established itself as the top provider of hydroponically, greenhouse-grown lettuce and leafy greens
on the West Coast. However, maintaining a leadership
position in today’s fresh produce industry requires
something “more.”
To stay ahead of the competition, the company
has challenged its staff, customers and
consumers to Expect More! This attitude
and business practice also serve as the
genesis and inspiration for its latest
marketing campaign.
Headquartered on California’s
Central Coast in Carpinteria, Hollandia
Produce is in the process of doubling
its acreage through the addition of a
new, state-of-the-art growing facility in
the nearby city of Oxnard. The scope of
the expansion further demonstrates the
company’s commitment to innovation,
quality and sustainability.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention®) validated our
own third-party superfood research and certification and
is helping consumers make more informed choices about
foods that can positively impact their overall health.”
The company’s Live Gourmet® products, which include
its flagship Living Butter Lettuce and related varieties,
are also packaged with their roots still attached. It’s the
Cress products earn superfood certification
consumer or fine dining chef, who is the actual harvester.
Sold under several organic and conventional private
labels, these lettuce products are housed in a proprietary,
protective, see-through clamshell.
Since nothing says innovation like industry recognition,
Hollandia Produce executives refer proudly to their
cress products. Live Gourmet® Living Upland Cress and
their certified organic Grower Pete’s Living Organic
Watercress recently received third-party certification
as an antioxidant superfood.
“The great news is,” said Hollandia Produce
Marketing Director Vincent
Choate, “this study,
(published by the
Hollandia’s Live Gourmet® products are packaged with roots attached.
It’s the consumer, or fine dining chef, who is the actual harvester.
The clamshell serves as a mini-greenhouse,
extending the natural green color, flavor and
freshness of each item.
Its design allows the clamshell to function as a
mini-greenhouse, thereby extending the natural green
color, freshness and flavor of each item in it. Such
value-added features have helped build Hollandia
Produce products into category leaders.
Quality makes the bottom line green
Choate cites that in addition to its
packaging, the company’s products add
value to the all-important bottom line
through lower shrink and higher dollar rings
than field-grown products.
“It’s all about consistent quality,” noted Choate. “Our
lettuce color and leaf count have become the benchmark
for many retailers. We’ve also set the bar high for service.
We get the order right and have the pallets ready when
the customers’ trucks roll in, so they get back on the road
without delay.”
Raul Gallegos, senior director of produce and floral for
upscale retailer Bristol Farms, whose stores offer the entire
product line, agrees that service and quality are priorities
with this grower-shipper. “From its growing practices to its
graphics, Hollandia gives us exceptional quality and is very
helpful in accommodating and anticipating our needs. We
value product quality and only ally ourselves with companies like Hollandia that have the same values,” he said.
In fact, to avoid suspicion that its products’ consistent
leaf count and color were not indicative of genetic modification, Hollandia President and CEO Pete Overgaag took
the extra effort to verify its products through the NonGMO Project. “We believe in producing wholesome, high
quality, extremely fresh produce with time tested methods
that utilize the best of nature and nurture,” he explained.
Innovation and quality go beyond product development for this company, whose origins trace back three
generations to floral and vegetable farming in Holland. “We
respect the experience of our heritage, which encourages
us to stay ahead of the curve,” said Choate of the company’s philosophy on embracing change.
A leader through industry outreach
Always on the lookout for trends and discoveries likely
to impact their operation, Hollandia Produce executives are
a familiar presence at fresh produce industry conventions
and events. This commitment allows them to be among
the first to learn, and implement, beneficial technology and
best practices as they become available.
When many others in the industry thought “sustainability” referred to shelf life or repeat orders, for example,
Hollandia Produce exhibits and executives are present at fresh produce
industry conventions and events.
company management had already instituted environmentally sensitive product and processing solutions.
Recognizing opportunities for recycling and resource
protection has made Hollandia Produce a leader among
those companies embracing environmentally-friendly best
practices and production activities. The efficiency of its
hydroponics process, which uses far less water per plant
Hydroponics Technique Helps Grow Savings
All of Hollandia’s lettuce and leafy greens products are produced hydroponically in its greenhouses, which are enclosed
and protected growing areas where light, temperature, humidity and nutrients are strictly controlled.
Controlling these factors increases yields, shortens crop
times and produces a uniquely uniform, high-quality product on a year-round basis. Hollandia’s hydroponic growing
technique recycles precious water and reduces overall usage,
limits water loss due to evaporation, and stops soil erosion.
This practice conserves between 66 and 84 percent of the
water that would be used if the lettuce were field grown.
In addition, hydroponic greenhouse production generally
produces 3.55 times more lettuce per acre than conventional
field growing methods, thereby reducing the amount of arable
land necessary for production.
than field-grown crops, is another
case in point. Headquartered in a state
suffering from a five-year drought,
Hollandia Produce documents these
savings for its customers.
Hollandia Produce also selects
vendor partners who share in its
commitment to recycle all resources,
not just the costly ones. A tour of
the company’s plant is an example
of how to be more efficient through
improved packaging and resource
reduction. From the recycled plastic
in its clamshells to the compressed
natural gas (CNG) used by the majority
of its delivery fleet, Hollandia Produce’s
stance on sustainability is but a
prequel to the role it has played in
organics, food safety and traceability.
Convinced that the demand for
organics was a fact, rather than a
phase, the company opted early on to
meet the prerequisites for certification. It created its own brand with the
Grower Pete’s label and has developed
private labels, including graphics, for
retailers who opt to go that route.
Today, Hollandia Produce continues to anticipate compliance initiatives, and believes produce traceability
is likely to become mandatory in the
near future. “It’s coming in one form
Hollandia’s shipping department gets the order right and has the pallets
ready when its customers’ trucks roll in. It also maintains its own delivery
fleet that operates primarily on CNG (compressed natural gas).
or another,” Choate predicted, “and
we’ll be ahead of those who’ve chosen
to fight it or ignore the conversation.”
With its leafy greens and lettuce
available throughout the West, Pacific
Northwest and Southwest states, the
Hollandia Produce name is recognized
by each region’s leading retail chains
for freshness and promotability.
In fact, Albertsons will feature
Hollandia in its Meet Our Growers ad
campaign later this year. Steve Lawler,
produce sales manager for Albertsons
Southern California Division, credits
the company for being a great partner.
“Hollandia teamed up with Albertsons
on quite a few rebate programs over
the years in support of the City of
Hope, and its personnel have made
appearances at local stores in support
of our “California Grown” programs.
All in all, it’s been a great relationship
that has benefited us both,” Lawler
summarized.
With quality, innovation and
sustainability as its guiding values,
and revered partnerships with those
who inspire Hollandia to do and be
more, it’s no surprise the company
challenges itself. And why not? Being
a category leader means more is
expected from you and that’s a
practice Hollandia has “grown”
with for almost two decades.