Sign up for our daily Newsletter and stay up to date with all the latest news You are receiving this pop-up because this is the first time you are visiting our site You are using software which is blocking our advertisements (adblocker) we are relying on revenues from our banners So please disable your adblocker and reload the page to continue using this site.Thanks the official groundbreaking ceremony for the new Aartsen N.V building in Sint-Katelijne-Waver took place a commercial real estate broker based in Sint-Katelijne-Waver has the privilege of exclusively offering the current prime location at Strijbroek 14 for sale This impressive commercial building boasts 4,000 m² of refrigerated warehouse space and 400 m² of office space The warehouse is equipped with seven loading docks and various cold storage units totaling 870 m² it features a fully equipped cash & carry spanning 1,824 m² Located near the R6 and the E19, this modern and versatile building offers excellent logistics opportunities. For more information, DGI is at your service: call +32 15 55 68 28 or email [email protected] Don't miss this unique opportunity to acquire a top-quality commercial building in the rapidly growing region of Sint-Katelijne-Waver FreshPublishers © 2005-2025 FreshPlaza.com During a tornado between Sint-Katelijne-Waver and Putte at least two growers were severely affected with one grower losing 40 years of life's work in just one minute conveying the pain and shock through the phone "I had just left the greenhouse ten minutes ago The tomato plants were supposed to arrive today" according to the municipality of Sint-Katelijne-Waver and the residents are being accommodated by family Paulanco seems to be the most affected horticultural company on Thursday morning a smaller greenhouse with half a hectare of cold glass has also been significantly affected "It has been very local," a colleague from the area states Glass keeps on fallingInsurance company Hagelunie visited the grower on Thursday afternoon glass kept on falling from the broken premisses all the grower's spare glass has also been broken A drone had already flown over the company and greenhouse builders had been contacted Repairing is not yet possible on Thursday due to the danger and also there is still no cleanup of the shattered greenhouses according to the information received with the photos "We are not allowed and cannot do anything for now Glass is still falling." The expectation by the end of Thursday is that everything will need to be demolished "The drive is still there"In a video that appeared in Flemish media we see grower Paul Houtmeyers with a helmet briefly in the greenhouse When asked if he still sees a future now that forty years of life's work has been destroyed The grower emphasizes the perseverance even in an interview with the Flemish trade magazine Boer & Tuinder who receives a lot of assistance from colleagues such as those willing to help with glass removal a greenhouse builder will install an emergency facade in the company's shed The article reveals the exact extent of the damage 7,000 square meters collapsed in a short time Grower Paul is also aware of damage at a colleague's place FreshPublishers © 2005-2025 HortiDaily.com By 2023-04-13T12:18:00+01:00 What are the main challenges facing vegetable growers in Belgium at the moment and what are they coming to you for research on Indoors it’s mainly Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV) and energy which is a common issue for all greenhouse farmers There is a tendency in outdoor crops for farmers to pay more attention to monitoring both pests and beneficial organisms They want to know the effect of pesticides on those beneficials so they can better implement and adjust their strategies because if less and less products are available to them they need to use them in a more effective way There’s a longer-term danger in the requests that supermarkets make because they are requesting that producers use only a couple of active ingredients This is opposite to the best-practice strategy you should use for resistance management because if you use only a small selection of active ingredients pests are more likely to develop resistance and you will decrease the lifespan of those products which environmental targets do you think are realistic for the Belgian horticulture sector to meet and which are less likely Farmers are facing a series of environmental goals to be met by 2030 they are already ambitious but might be achievable The real challenge lies in meeting all of these goals by 2030.  but achieving them ultimately depends on a lot of things We are developing IPM strategies to better control pests and diseases and the use of chemical pesticides comes in last place but it all depends on a variety of parameters how will our strategies be impacted if we keep experiencing warmer summers we’ll do our upper best to control them using fewer pesticides It always takes some years to have them under control.  we will do our best to meet the required reduction of 44 per cent by 2030 We have research projects up and running to investigate pathways towards this reduction And following two years of economic crisis raw materials and labour has increased a lot over the past two years so margins might be low for those companies.  What is the Belgian government doing to support growers at the moment but I see that they are providing funding for innovative growers A business can receive funding of up to 40 per cent if they want to implement a very innovative technology at their farm the government has provided extra support for research initiatives within the framework of a potential EU Blue Deal [on water sustainability] from time to time legislation is made that is very severe and sometimes reverses decisions that were made in the past combined heat and power (CHP) units were for a long period considered the best practice to heat a greenhouse It was a very nice method for heating the greenhouse while at same time producing electricity at an acceptable cost.  Farmers have made a huge investment in CHP technology and had intended to continue relying on it for another 8-10 years But now the government is reversing the promises it made for each megawatt hour produced a grower has received a certificate with a specific index Farmers have been calculating their costs on that basis but now the cost benefit of the technology might become unsustainable.   How is the role of horticultural R&D changing in Belgium as the sector evolves?  The average age of our farmers here at the station is 57 so by the time we reach 2030 a lot of them will have retired You see that the farmers of the future are fewer and they are taking a totally different approach these younger farmers are facing new challenges by 2050 their farms will have to be climate-neutral Our station will strive to meet the needs of all vegetable farmers but in time we must evolve towards the needs of the younger and newer farms so that we remain a valuable partner for them I still see a lot of potential in robotisation because I don’t see a lot of robots running around in the greenhouses yet I expect that within five years there will be robots performing all sorts of tasks for greenhouse growers.  I think there is potential for more GPS-automated technologies Drones offer a lot of possibilities and can collect a lot of data but as it stands we are not allowed to fly a drone without having somebody out there in the field it might open a window to new opportunities Where I see a role for us is that we can support the grower to set up these technologies Site powered by Webvision Cloud your new go-to podcast to spice up your weekday mornings with relevant news and behind-the-scenes from Brussels and beyond From the economy to the climate and the EU's role in world affairs this talk show sheds light on European affairs and the issues that impact on our daily lives as Europeans Tune in to understand the ins and outs of European politics Dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries Deep dive conversations with business leaders Euronews Tech Talks goes beyond discussions to explore the impact of new technologies on our lives the podcast provides valuable insights into the intersection of technology and society Europe's water is under increasing pressure floods are taking their toll on our drinking water Join us on a journey around Europe to see why protecting ecosystems matters and to discover some of the best water solutions an animated explainer series and live debate - find out why Water Matters We give you the latest climate facts from the world’s leading source analyse the trends and explain how our planet is changing We meet the experts on the front line of climate change who explore new strategies to mitigate and adapt the BelOrta auction room sells 490 000 tons of fruit and vegetables every year It's one of Europe's major fruit and veg auction houses and BelOrta is also one of the largest fruit and vegetable cooperatives Over 1000 farmers work with the association Its turnover last year was 480 000 000 euros This financial success is linked to quality produce from sustainable agriculture and trust between growers The sales take place using six auction 'clocks' its quality and the price for potential buyers The first buyer to signal his or her intention to purchase the produce closes the transaction The BelOrta clock is sometimes referred to as the barometer of the international trade of fresh fruit and vegetables This system has a positive impact on reducing food waste the Sales and Marketing Manager at BelOrta tells us that they're able to sell everything on the day That means that the next day they start with entirely fresh produce which is supplied by growers in the afternoon In the rare cases of leftover batches of vegetables They are donated to charities and food banks the Sales and Marketing Manager at BelOrta To watch the full interview and to see how the auction system works the first pole for the new Vergro building in Sint-Katelijne-Waver was driven into the ground “We are ahead of schedule and the fully cooled warehouse of 8,000 square meters must be operational for the start of the new vegetable season on 1 March,” says Dominiek Noppe of Vergro The new building is located on the new industrial estate right next to the auction and will have a total of 16 loading docks “Our subsidiary DVL will move into the building together with Vergro One of the reasons behind the construction of the new building is that the site in Meulebeke has become too small which means that part of the production intended for export to France will be moved to Sint-Katelijne-Waver "The British need our products"“The new building is being built on our growth and is currently 40% larger than necessary The building in Meulebeke is only 4 years old but we have already noticed that we are running out of space That is why we decided to build the new building in Sint-Katelijne-Waver in such a way that we have the opportunity to grow,” says Dominiek the UK is an important sales market for Vergro we have to wait and see what will happen next year “Fortunately we have prepared ourselves well by founding the company Vergro UK which is ready to go when a hard Brexit comes we are not afraid that the British consumers will no longer need our products The UK is by no means self-sufficient in horticultural products and in terms of labour they will not be able to find enough pickers and the like we are not afraid that the British market will collapse 10% more ConferenceIn addition to horticultural products top fruit is also a product group in which Vergro is strong “The Conference harvest is over and we can conclude that we have harvested 10% more Conference this year The apple harvest is comparable to last year because all our apples are covered by hail nets We also have varieties that flower a little later which means that they have suffered less frost damage than will also be picked again soon and expectations are very positive This year more trees have come into production once more so we hope to pick 400 tonnes of Red Modoc pears this year Red Modoc“The demand for Red Modoc is still overwhelming We try to distribute sales fairly between the retailers who really believe in the product but we also want to supply the smaller parties We want to achieve a production of 200 hectares within the next five years That is why last week we obtained the license for the Red Modoc for Germany and England (we already had the licence for the Benelux) We have now been contacted by German growers who would like to plant the Red Modoc This shows that people really have confidence in this pear,” says Dominiek “A big advantage of the Red Modoc is the harvesting time This means that the grower can then keep his staff working Another great asset is that we picked 85% class 1 pears last year Other red pears often have the problem that the colour fades a bit over the years We also performed shelf life tests last year This showed that even in June the pear is still of excellent quality The price paid to the growers is also 50% above the Conference price we continue to believe 100 percent in this pear,” Dominiek concludes For more information:Dominiek NoppeVergro Kleine Roeselarestraat 58760 Meulebeke (Belgium)+32 (051) 48 90 76[email protected]www.vergro.com international city and for haute couture one could make a trip to Paris but for haute couture fit for royalty one should visit couturier Edouard Vermeulen’s boutique in Brussels. Vermeulen’s career in fashion started in 1983 and his breakthrough came in the late 90s when princess Mathilde wife to the then Belgian crown-prince Filip chose Vermeulen to design her wedding dress—an elegant robe of off-white crepe de soie with a 7m-long wedding train Vermeulen became the “couture specialist” at the Belgian royal house Princess Mathilde’s wedding introduced him to new contacts within European royalty Queen Margrethe of Denmark and the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg who was also married in a dress by Vermeulen introduced him to Máxima Zorreguieta During her engagement to crown prince Willem-Alexander Zorreguieta chose an elegant wine-red ensemble for her first presentation on Dutch television Queen Máxima later became a muse for Edouard Vermeulen’s fashion label Natan.  “My various collections—Natan Couture Natan Edition 5 and Natan + distinguish themselves from other fashion collections through their simplicity “My collection translates itself well with neutral colours these are the same starting points for my home a 18th century gentilhommière located to the north of Brussels.”  “Villa Rozenhout was designed and decorated by myself I was inspired by the authentic style of this house That’s why I used such natural and subtle colours I hardly changed anything in the last 20 years.”  Vermeulen bought this property—located in St Katelijne Waver a little town in the picturesque Flemish countryside that is some 35 km to the north of Brussels—in the early ‘90s The former hunting lodge came with a ‘60s-style interior and all the flooring and panelling were removed The original house dates from 1790 and belonged to the mayor of Mechelen according to an old floor tile next to the entrance Many years later the house had a new extension added to the left of the building that destroyed the symmetry of the facade Vermeulen “repaired” the look by covering it with green ivy.  The whole estate how has five different annexes complete with an outside kitchen. Villa Rozenhout can definitely be categorised as an estate In general, St Katelijne Waver profited from the property trends in 17th century Brussels when many members of the nobility bought estates to build mansions and country houses in a quest for the tranquillity of Flemish country life.  I love the romantic 18th century country style—a country house with open doors and a magnificent view The advantage of this house is the corridor that connects the various rooms It is just situated along the back of the house One calls that architectural element an enfilade you have a close connection with the life outside while walking from room to room,” says Vermeulen.  “You see that often with French castles where you can look right into the back of the garden without any disturbance I paid much attention to the cosy atmosphere of the living room as well I love old and weathered patinas and by ‘aging’ Villa Rozenhout From that creative process I also get a lot of inspiration for my fashion collections.” Photography by Mark SeelenStyling by Marc Heldens demand for greenhouse vegetables has really started to pick up again at Flemish Elite Foods has seen a boost in sales with the start of Ramadan "The sunshine and the start of Ramadan have created strong demand People gather after sunset to eat and always tend to buy just a bit more," says Tuncer Akarca It's a promising start to the new greenhouse vegetable season "As the fresh produce industry continues to evolve we at Elite Foods are proud to enter the new season with stronger partnerships and a renewed commitment to sustainability and efficiency After very successful participation in Fruit Logistica we are more motivated than ever to create added value in the fresh produce market," he continued where we signed contracts with premium producers to ensure top-quality delivery We also initiated negotiations with logistics companies to improve efficiency across Europe." The company offers a full range of fruit and vegetables from the Netherlands and Belgium tomatoes are the most consumed fresh produce item Three of every five trolleys that leave our premises are filled with tomatoes and two with other products such as cucumbers and aubergines," Tuncer explains we are now also working extensively with cucumbers I estimate we're currently at about 30 per cent of our peak volume We expect to reach our peak season in terms of volumes by the beginning of April." and you quickly lose a week of shelf life due to transport Now everything is coming in fresh again from Belgium and the Netherlands working with local produce allows you to maintain full control That makes the work especially rewarding." Elite Foods' main market is Germany we're seeing our market share in surrounding countries steadily grow and we now supply almost every European country." "We have a larger and stronger team to meet growing demand we have doubled our sales team and expanded our workforce to streamline operations This ensures faster order processing and improved customer service we have converted our company vehicles to electric cars We continue to explore sustainable practices to minimize waste and work with eco-conscious partners Elite Foods is poised for an impactful season." "We are proud to participate in this international food and beverage exhibition in Asia Our colleagues Kazuki Yamamoto and Glenn Demeyer will be on-site at Stand E1-A12-18 welcoming customers and partners from across Asia and beyond and showcasing a premium range of quality fresh produce." For more information:Elite FoodsKempenarestraat 642860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, BelgiumTel: +32 (0)15633746[email protected]www.elitefoods.be is bidding farewell to its long-established location at Strijbroek in Sint-Katelijne-Waver thanks to valuable collaborations with partners and the impressive results they have achieved they will be able to serve their customers even better in the future Aartsen proudly announces that they will be operational at their brand-new location at Hoveniersstraat 8 The new building is just 1,200 meters from the current location The Cash & Carry will reach new heights: more spacious and offering the same top-quality fresh fruits and vegetables This expansion will allow them to work even more efficiently without compromising on quality and service the international gateway for fresh fruit and vegetables has been a market leader in the open market for many years they distribute a complete range of the best and freshest products year-round to their customers Aartsen's presence in Asia is particularly impressive with over 175 distribution points across more than 15 countries reinforcing their global reach and logistical strength What makes Aartsen unique in the Benelux is its strong and leading position in the non-retail market They deliver daily to 1250+ customers: wholesalers Aartsen is not just an importer and distributor; it is the connecting link between producers and the free market The location at Strijbroek 14 will remain open until 12:00 PM on Friday The big move to the new location will begin in the afternoon Aartsen warmly welcomes everyone to their new location For more information:AartsenTel.: +31 (0)76 52 48 100[email protected] www.aartsen.com Het Belgische aubergineseizoen is opnieuw gestart Gisteren zijn de eerste geveild bij groente- en fruitveiling BelOrta in Sint-Katelijne-Waver Het seizoen loopt van maart tot november met als piekmaanden mei en juli "Vorig jaar verkochten we 14 miljoen kilo aubergines" "En door de sterke vraag naar aubergines hopen we dit jaar nog beter te doen." Tijdens het winterseizoen kwamen de aubergines in onze supermarkten vooral uit Spanje “Het verschil is dat Belgische aubergines jong en vers zijn zegt Kelly van BelOrta."Ongeveer 70 procent van de aubergines is bestemd voor het binnenland zo'n 30% wordt geëxporteerd naar Duitsland De Belgische primeuraubergines worden geteeld door Jan Heulens uit Vremde bij Boechout BelOrta werkt samen met een vijftal telers en beschikt over 28 hectare aubergine-grond Veel jongeren experimenteren met aubergines en maken er hummus-achtige hapjes mee Aubergines van kwekerij Heulens in Boechout zorgen voor natuurlijke airco: "Ze koelen zichzelf af en dus ook de serre" Naast de klassieke aubergines verhandelt BelOrta ook Turkse (slankere vorm) en bio-aubergines Volgens Kelly Van Dessel is er veel vraag naar lokale en duurzame aubergines “Begin maart liggen ze in alle supermarkten in België." Uit onderzoek van GfK Belgium blijkt dat aubergines vooral populair zijn bij jongeren De groente duikt op in verschillende kookprogramma’s en er zijn ontzettend veel mogelijkheden mee “Veel jongeren experimenteren met aubergines en maken er hummus-achtige hapjes mee”