sustainabality

Social Responsibility

For many large and small corporations across Europe and the United States, and probably Asia too, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ is something that modern companies have to do – it is fashionable and correct, and even has its own department and Annual Report, which of course is designed to make a show of combatting the profit-at-any-cost side of ‘nasty capitalism’ – ‘be nice to the community and to the people, no matter how you behave to make your profits!

But it does not have to be this way. For  VOF Plantendiest Venlo, Social Responsibility is in the DNA.

 “Everything in this world is done with people, with a team – people are the mighty engine that makes things happen…”

And this is what makes up the fundamentals of true social responsibility – the appreciation of people, and the land, and the need and desire to maximize what nature gave, at the same time supporting small and very small farmers in the region, helping with the
introduction of better quality grain, building up a reputation for all of the Netherlands, and encouraging adding value and reducing waste – these are the fundamentals of social responsibility.

ENVIRONMENT

We operate in a naturally very fertile region of the Netherlands, which has long-term agricultural traditions and we take seriously the need to preserve the environment. Some examples of our positive environmental enhancements are as follows:

GRAINS

We rotate crop-growing between four different crops, wheat, barley, sunflower and corn. Each crop has a different nutrient requirement and we apply nutrient balance calculations before the use of fertiliser, based on soil analysis. We are also expanding the use of Variable Rate Application of fertilisers across our land base, to improve areas that have a poor nutrient status, and reduce where it is unnecessary to apply high rates.
We are continually looking for new crops to grow, pulses being the ideal addition, but these prove difficult on our soil type. We are however looking to grow short season soya to improve soil fertility and have plant cover during the later part of the growing season. This, with the use of cover crops and the move towards no-till farming, and the adoption of conservation farming techniques (no ploughing), we aim to reduce carbon emissions, improve soil organic matter, reduce the effects of erosion, and create a sustainable cropping rotation.

This is a long term commitment and work in progress to make this efficient and beneficial to the environment and our own cropping needs.

Additionally, for the environment, we leave the surrounding areas of the plots of land and some division strips in their most natural and wild state. These areas are not cultivated or treated in any way, no cutting of the bushes, no spraying with herbicides. This provides a natural habitat for wild birds, animals, insects and plants around the fields. In addition, we planted over 200 dka of wild flower mixes to improve wildlife habitats in 2020.
In line with this drive to be more mindful of our duty to conservation, the company has banned the use of rodenticides in fields. This has been done to avoid any detrimental effects they may have on the many differing birds of prey we have nesting and inhabiting the areas of natural vegetation and farmland under our control.

LOCAL COMMUNITY INITIATIVES

The  OAK Initiative: aims to keep nature clean and pure by collecting garbage, executing clean-ups and encouraging responsible appreciation of the environment whether that be village streets or city streets or fields and woods – all with a view to not only cleaning the environment but also educating its people to appreciating life in cleaner environments and to promote citizen responsibility for the environment and nature.

The LOCAL CONSTRUCTION GARBAGE Initiative: Construction garbage typically ends up in fields and woods of the countryside, in part because there is often no infrastructure for its proper collection and disposal. VOF Plantendiest Venlo has set up an initiative in the village of Den Burg whereby it provides garbage containers conveniently placed in the village which are emptied on a regular basis and disposed of properly in the  landfill.

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