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Sign up for The Court Jeweller Newsletter The Court Jeweller Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World 01.21.2025 by // Leave a Comment We recently marveled at some red carpet-worthy opals and today I’ve got a recent example of a royal opal brooch outing Queen Maxima opted for a special heirloom opal brooch as she celebrated an award-winning Dutch business in Dinteloord The Queen of the Netherlands headed to the village of Dinteloord in North Brabant last week to make a visit to Royal Cosun an agricultural cooperative owned by more than 8,000 sugar beet growers The company operates the largest sugar factory in Europe Queen Máxima learned all about sugar beets during her visit to the company’s headquarters the firm was honored with the King Willem I Award described as the “most prestigious accolade for courageous and sustainable entrepreneurship” in the Netherlands For her visit to the beet factory, Máxima appropriately wore an ensemble in bright, rich red tones. (Anyway, when I think of beets, I think about the color red—but I think sugar beets are actually white? You all know by now that I’m not particularly well-versed in flora and fauna!) Per UFO No More she paired a Natan top and skirt with a Max Mara coat and coordinating accessories Máxima accessorized with special jewelry pieces from the royal vaults and her personal collection. She wore a pair of heirloom diamond cluster earrings, which we recently saw Princess Amalia wear with diamond drops is also an antique piece from the royal vaults: a diamond and opal brooch in the shape of a spray of leaves The floral brooch has been in the family for five generations It was made at the end of the nineteenth century for Queen Emma who was the wife of King Willem III and the mother of Queen Wilhelmina the brooch was a particular favorite of Wilhelmina’s daughter The brooch was worn occasionally by Juliana’s daughter during her tenure as Queen of the Netherlands she wears it in Brunei during one of the last major trips of her reign Queen Máxima took her time bringing this brooch out of the vaults. She didn’t wear the piece in public until June 2023, when she brought it with her during the Dutch state visit to Belgium Máxima’s second public appearance in the brooch Though we often see Máxima pile on the bracelets and rings she kept the rest of her jewelry rather simple for her visit to the beet factory She wore a diamond-tipped gold bangle on her right wrist and her watch and a gold charm bracelet on her left you also get a glimpse of a ring on her right hand I believe this is the ruby and diamond ring that King Willem-Alexander gave to her to celebrate the birth of Princess Amalia in December 2003 Categories // Netherlands Enter your name and email address below to subscribe to our weekly newsletter Sign up for my new subscriber-supported community, Hidden Gems, delivered directly to you each Saturday! Copyright © 2025 THE COURT JEWELLER LLC 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 there are still ample opportunities for expansion with about 18.5 hectares remaining available for development Lans is cautiously exploring expansion opportunities beyond the Netherlands It seems their one location in Egypt will not be their last cites scaling up as essential to meet customer demand Customers are requesting tomatoes from almost every segment and Lans is eagerly addressing this demand Scaling up also means a lesser increase in cost price With the future of tomato supply solely from the Netherlands looking less certain they are also setting their sights on locations abroad Erwin van der Lans during our visit to the new construction site Labor and energy costs are the main drivers of cost increases Lans is closely monitoring developments in robotics they are focusing on labor-saving mechanization The new AGVs (harvesting carts) from Bogaerts Greenhouse Logistics are a prime example These AGVs will be used in the new greenhouse making work easier by eliminating the need to push carts manually Tie wrapping is automated. It saves half the time. View the full photo impression of the construction activities for Lans in Dinteloord here. SustainabilitySustainability often comes at a high cost but Lans sees the necessity of sustainable tomato production They have invested in full-LED lighting (Food Autonomy) for phase 2 we may need to adjust our cultivation practices as we are more than ready for a great tomato production The energy issue is certainly on Lans' mind they were looking forward to the residual heat and CO₂ from the PreZero waste-to-energy plant in Roosendaal "These types of facilities will help the Netherlands continue to provide for its food supply which also helps keep energy costs manageable." Open QuestionsThe new greenhouse in Dinteloord is a conventional greenhouse equipped with basic techniques Lans is waiting for the day when there are solutions for combining heat we naturally want to keep the windows closed as much as possible as it creates a problem with moisture removal there's currently enough power on the grid for phases 1 and 2 Finding solutions to these challenges will help Lans work with their mission in mind That mission is to cultivate as intensively as possible aiming for maximum yields per hectare while keeping the hortifootprint as low as possible "We want to 'race in Formula 1' or 'play in the Champions League,' to use a football analogy We aim to be among the top in the Netherlands Left under construction (phase 2) and right is phase 1. View the full photo impression of the construction activities for Lans in Dinteloord here. Kubo is almost finished with a few minor details remaining This makes room for the screen installer (A1 Horticultural Technology) and the installation of the Hoogendoorn climate computer (Stolze) A few Lans employees are installing the prefab cabling The pulleys are ready to pull the wire beds. View the full photo impression of the construction activities for Lans in Dinteloord here. WetCoordinating so many parties is quite the puzzle a lot of preparatory work was done to allow phases 2 construction supervision is necessary and useful The schedule is going well despite some setbacks Heavy rain disrupted the start of the steel construction Such greenhouses need to be built in about seven months The ship carrying the glass also had to detour via South Africa Phases 1 and 2 in Dinteloord will be filled with tomatoes for the large cluster segment: Macxize View the photo galery of the construction here. For more information:Erwin van der Lans Lans+31 6 28 90 33 10[email protected] www.lans.nl Kubo+31 174 286 161 [email protected]www.kubogroup.nl FreshPublishers © 2005-2025 HortiDaily.com By 2024-06-26T10:37:00+01:00 Pieter Egelmeers (right) explains how the berry facility will operate Rijk Zwaan has ramped up its berry research and development operation with the opening of a new greenhouse in Dinteloord which will be used to produce new berry varieties energy-efficient systems that the company says will ensure “optimal conditions” for year-round breeding “Our new breeding greenhouse represents a significant step forward in our mission to innovate in the area of fruit and vegetable breeding,” said Michiel Zwaan at an opening ceremony attended by colleagues and construction partners “The new facility allows our team to conduct year-round research in optimal conditions accelerating the development of our new breeding programme for berries.” Rijk Zwaan has been active in vegetable breeding since its foundation in 1924 it officially launched a berry breeding programme aimed at broadening its product portfolio with strawberries Rijk Zwaan made a charitable donation at the opening Breeding manager Pieter Egelmeers explained: “Berries are traditionally propagated vegetatively rather than from seeds We are focusing on both propagation methods in our breeding programme we hope to bring new and innovative strawberry blackberry and raspberry varieties to the market that will add value for growers and other chain partners.” The new breeding station was constructed by Van der Hoeven take pride in supporting Rijk Zwaan’s innovative efforts Corporate social responsibility holds significant importance to us and we’re pleased to contribute towards initiatives such as the Sibusiso foundation in Tanzania we are delighted to present a collective gesture to benefit this foundation during the opening of Rijk Zwaan’s new breeding station.” Site powered by Webvision Cloud The Administrative Law Division of the Council of State ruled on the upscaling of the Karolinapolder wind park in Dinteloord on 12 April 2023 The Council of State ruled that RWE Windpower Netherlands B.V can proceed with the construction of the four wind turbines Local residents and the municipality of Steenbergen had objected to the wind park together with a ruling on a wind park in Delfzijl on the same day is the first in which the Council of State assesses municipal and provincial standards for noise shadow flicker and external safety for a wind park following the Nevele ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union declared generic national wind turbine standards inapplicable Stibbe represented RWE in this long-running dispute By 2023-04-20T08:44:00+01:00 Dutch vegetable seed specialist Rijk Zwaan has announced that it is adding a berry breeding programme to its operations Rijk Zwaan co-owner Anton van Doornmalen at the construction of the group’s new greenhouse in Dinteloord Rijk Zwaan said that the move into soft fruit was aimed at broadening its product portfolio with strawberries Construction work for a new greenhouse at Rijk Zwaan’s facility in Dinteloord marked the official start of its soft fruit breeding programme which represented ”a continuation of the company’s strategy of autonomous growth” “Soft fruit is traditionally propagated vegetatively rather than from seeds,” explained breeding manager Pieter Egelmeers ”We are focusing on both in our breeding programme blackberry and raspberry varieties to the market that will of course add value for growers and other chain partners,” he noted it can take between six and 16 years to breed a new variety with Egelmeers putting no specific timeframe on when varieties would be available commercially “We are still at the very beginning of our soft fruit breeding programme so it is too early to say when Rijk Zwaan’s first soft fruit varieties will be ready to market,” he confirmed The facilities for the soft fruit breeding programme will be housed in a new building which involves the construction of a greenhouse plus an office The new building is an extension of Rijk Zwaan’s existing facility in Dinteloord Construction work officially started on Tuesday 18 April in the presence of board member Kees Reinink and Rijk Zwaan co-owner Anton van Doornmalen The work is expected to be completed in 2024.  Lans Group purchased 20 hectares of land on 4 January 2021 on which a 6.5 hectare greenhouse complex will be built this year will have more than 79 hectares of glass stands and sufficient land positions to build another 35 hectares This brings the grower to 114 hectares in the future The expansion is funded by the banking consortium ING The financing came about under the direction of Yeald Specialisation in year-round tomatoesThe Lans Group has been in existence for almost 50 years and has grown into a well-known large grower that is active in three areas The company has 32 hectares in Westland / Maasland 20.5 hectares in Dinteloord and 20 hectares in Zeeland (Rilland) Approximately 80% of the greenhouse surface is provided with grow lights and you can rightly say that the company specialises in the year-round cultivation of various types of tomatoes Lans Group is still a real family business with Leo Vincent and Erwin van der Lans on the board The management is also completed by Jan van Marrewijk (Operational director Dinteloord) and Edwin Ruigrok (Financial director) co-founder Cees van der Lans is still a committed shareholder Collaboration with Jan van MarrewijkJan van Marrewijk has been growing tomatoes since 1986 and within the Lans organization is responsible for the cultivation and operation of all locations in Dinteloord The cooperation with Jan van Marrewijk strengthens the organization and contributes to the desired increase in scale Lans acquired its first land positions in Nieuw Prinsenland in Dinteloord and thanks to the collaboration with Jan The Lans Group has deliberately opted for the Nieuw Prinsenland horticultural area because it concerns a sustainable greenhouse horticulture area with plots of sufficient size the Lans Group will realize a modern greenhouse complex of over 62 hectares here FinancingThe current financiers ING-Bank and NIBC welcome a third club deal partner in the form of Rabobank sustainable and future-proof financing is set up with which further growth can be realised The management determined the strategy together with Yeald and Yeald also acted as debt advisor Legal expertise was provided by law firm Habraken Rutten and Ruitenburg Accountants was engaged for tax advice For more information: Lans[email protected]www.lans.nl  Yeald www.yeald.nl [email protected]  By 2023-01-19T15:38:00+00:00 Rijk Zwaan has announced that it will host its Winter Leafy Hydroponics High Tech Demo in the Netherlands from 1-10 February According to the vegetable seed specialist this year’s demo features its hydroponics assortment Salatrio and high-density loose-leaf solutions all under artificial light to cope with the challenging winter conditions The demo has been scheduled in parallel with the upcoming Fruit Logistica in Berlin making it a ”great opportunity for horticultural professionals from all over the world to see the latest concepts for themselves” The first Leafy Hydroponics Demo of the year will take place in the Dutch town of Dinteloord allowing horticultural professionals to inspect the company’s new and existing concepts specifically bred for hydroponic production These include Rijk Zwaan’s Salatrio combinations Crystal and Salanova gem varieties and over 20 varieties offering high-density loose-leaf solutions for the fresh-cut industry ”The Rijk Zwaan team members are eager to welcome industry professionals to the Winter Leafy Hydroponics Demo to excite and inspire them with the hydroponically grown varieties and high-density loose-leaf solutions,” the group stated ”Visitors are encouraged to schedule a meeting in advance so that the visit can be tailored to their personal needs ”Thanks to the convenient timing of the Winter Leafy Hydroponics Demo overseas visitors can combine a stop-off in the Netherlands with their trip to attend Fruit Logistica in Berlin.”