Feeding and Greening the Megacities

Greenport West-Holland offers solutions for efficient water flows, smart logistics, safe and healthy food, good healthcare, and green and clean urban districts.

The Greenport West-Holland network

Greenport West-Holland is the world’s most innovative region in the field of greenhouse horticulture and , fresh logistics, with the world’s best growers of vegetables and flowers, suppliers, trading companies, breeders, consultancies, personnel services and other related services.

They work closely together: with each other, with local and regional authorities, with top educational institutions and with international research institutes. The governments in the region, entrepreneurs, educational institutions and research institutes have united in a network organization: Greenport West-Holland.

No 1 in Greenhouse Horticulture

When it comes to greenhouse horticulture, West-Holland is one of the most important regions in the world. It offers a concentration of state-of-the-art production, delivery, trade, distribution, logistics and processing companies, all strongly interlinked. West-Holland is home to importers, exporters, packers, cold storage facilities, ripening and repacking companies, growers, breeders, transport companies, customs, seed companies and warehouse & office space. The companies in the ‘Greenport’ or horticulture cluster in West-Holland have the knowledge and experience to feed the world with healthy and tasty vegetables and to supply consumers worldwide with high-quality flowers and plants. They also develop innovations and export their knowledge and expertise on large scale.

Join us and conquer 500 million consumers in Europe

• 4.500 ha Greenportarea
• 607 Grower companies
• 8.2 billion Import (NL) in EUR
• 16.5 billion Export (NL) in EUR

Visit Greenport West-Holland

Each year a large number of foreign trade missions and government delegations come to West-Holland to gain and exchange knowledge. West-Holland companies also take part in the trade missions that the Dutch government initiates all over the world. Companies from abroad are very interested in the expertise that West-Holland entrepreneurs contribute to these events. Their high level of knowledge makes West-Holland a strategic location for international knowledge-intensive companies to set up their business. In West-Holland they can further build and share their knowledge and develop new innovations in collaboration with other companies there.

Cooperation at the European level

West Holland is also active within the EU. Together with the Dutch province of Zuid Holland, Westland and the Greenport are active in the European Regions for Innovation in Agriculture, Food and Forestry (ERIAFF). The Greenport West-Holland is also highly involved in several European projects targeting the Biobased Economy, Urban Farming, digitalisation of the horticulture sector and the development of peer-to-peer knowledge transfer between the various European regions, their clusters and their farmers and growers.

How is it possible to grow tomatoes here using five times less water?

In West-Holland, an average of 12 litres of water are used to grow 1 kilogram of tomatoes. In other countries this requires 60 litres of water, or more. How is that possible?

We grow our tomatoes in greenhouses that use a closed climate control system, and we we apply water with greater precision. The quality of the water is also important: in West-Holland we recycle rainwater, whereas in Spain they usually use groundwater, which is dirtier. This means that you need to dilute fertilizers with a larger amount of water. Of course, we also have a milder climate, so it is not all down to technology. Here, the plants can evaporate up to seven litres of water per square metre on a hot summer’s day, through evaporation. In Spain, of course, there are plenty of such days. It will be possible to use even less water per kilogram of tomatoes in the future. Scientific research has shown that four litres per kilogram is possible, and a record of five litres has already been achieved, in completely closed greenhouses in the middle of the desert!

Your connection to European business and worldwide business

• Greenport West-Holland is a cluster within the European Cluster Collaboration Network, cooperating within the Plant Inter Cluster network
• State-of-the-art warehousing
• An innovative climate oriented towards high-quality, time-critical, and sustainable logistics
• Effective management of cargo and information flows
• An abundance of logistics companies, both large and small, as well as a healthy mix of SMEs and large internationals
• Plenty of logistics properties available
• Near to Port of Rotterdam
• Near to railway possibilities (RSC, Bleizo)
• Near Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Schiphol