At last we can visit our growers again!

The world is opening up again. Corona taught us that we can work online much more than we thought, and that’s a good thing for the environment. But sometimes you just have to meet in the reality of farming. Our quality manager Gert-Jan Lieffering and product manager Andrea Dijkhuizen went to South America last month, after a long break. There they visited three wonderful growers: mango grower Joe Roman in Ecuador, passion fruit grower Roberto Vargas, and biodynamic grower Jan Bernard in Peru. Gert-Jan Lieffering tells about each grower:

"First we visited Joe Roman, who started growing organic mangoes in the 90s on Finca Tres Marias in the South of Ecuador. He grows Keitt mangoes and since recently also Ataulfo mangoes. A new promising variety is the Sugar Mango. The orchards looked very enticing when we visited them!" (code 239 at www.natureandmore.com)

"Next we traveled to Roberto Vargas and his 4 friends who grow passion fruit in the Patavilca Valley, 150 km north of Lima. In the middle of the mountains they started a farm, a beautiful green strip along the river. We assessed their impact online with the Sustainability Flower and also did a Living Wage analysis. Next we checked it on the spot. The outcome was very positive: all of their 131 employees are already earning a Living Wage." (code 355)

"Finally, we visited Jan Bernard in Peru, a true biodynamic grower who has ecology flowing through his veins. He came to Peru as a baby with his Swiss parents and has always stayed there. As a Demeter grower he takes care of biodiversity and nutrient cycles on his farm, through crop rotation and intercropping. He also does his own composting. E.g. he plants ginger among the avocados, because diversity increases resilience. Those farms are a pleasure to see, it feels like being in nature." (code 120)