Zentoo, Honselersdijk (2022)
A colourful collective
This collaboration of chrysanthemum growers started in 2007 with 4 growers and 20 hectares, and has now grown into an association of 15 growers with over 100 hectares. The chrysanthemum growers’ collective offers more than 100 innovative varieties, and together they produce 330 million stems a year. With ever more far-reaching forms of concentration and upscaling, Zentoo is now a brand. This form of collaboration is unique within the floriculture sector. The growers each have their own ‘garden’, but share knowledge with one another and sell under a single brand name and trade with a single account. Zentoo makes use of sustainable energy sources such as CO2, a waste product from Rotterdam. The greenhouses are heated using geothermal heat and heat pumps instead of natural gas. They also generate a lot of electricity with large numbers of solar panels. In order to be able to ensure good quality all year round, Zentoo is increasingly using LED lighting to reduce its energy consumption.
The jury believes that Zentoo is an engaging, ambitious and sustainable business that has given chrysanthemum cultivation a boost over the past 10 years with effective marketing activities. It have shown itself to be a reliable innovator, including through the use of LED lighting, biological crop protection and data-driven cultivation, so that cultivation is being optimised sustainably. The far-reaching collaboration both with the growers in the collective but also with others in the sector is at the heart of Zentoo’s business model.
Zentoo has been nominated by Royal FloraHolland.
