Two individuals were arrested after a protest by Extinction Rebellion (XR) at an H&M store in Naaldwijk caused several people to feel unwell. The protest which involved the release of a stinky liquid inside the store led to the evacuation of the store and temporary closure The incident occurred at an H&M location where a number of customers and employees began to feel ill after the liquid was spilled and those affected were examined but did not require hospitalization The police confirmed that the substance used was not harmful although the exact liquid involved has not been disclosed "We did not intend for anyone to feel unwell," XR said in their statement. "We are investigating the incident to prevent similar situations in the future." © 2012-2025, NL Times, All rights reserved. 2025 Photo: Depositphotos.comEnvironmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion says it is taking “full responsibility” after demonstrators spread ampoules of butyric acid in a branch of the H&M clothes store in Naaldwijk on Friday afternoon leading several people to be treated by ambulance crews “We are extremely shocked, and this was not our aim,” XR said on social media We will discuss what happened among ourselves and how we can ensure it does not happen again.” A journalist for the AD newspaper was in the shop when the chemical was released but it is not clear from the reporting exactly what happened Police told the paper that five to ten people – both shop staff and shoppers – had “become unwell” and were checked over by ambulance crews Two people have been arrested and charged with vandalism Butyric acid is created by rotting butter and smells strongly of vomit It has been used by demonstrators in the past to create stink bombs most notably by Sea Shepherd against Japanese whaling crews it can cause coughing and difficulty breathing The protest is part of a campaign against fast fashion shops which has already been ongoing in France and Belgium The campaign Ode Aux Rats is derived from claims that fast fashion stores are “experimenting” on shoppers by blasting different fragrances through ventilation systems to encourage them to buy more We could not provide the Dutch News service without the generous support of our readers Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day Many thanks to everyone who has donated to DutchNews.nl in recent days We could not provide this service without you Please help us making DutchNews.nl a better read by taking part in a short survey Police officers responding to reports of a disturbance in Naaldwijk were targeted with fireworks on Saturday night. The incident occurred on Rembrandtstraat, near a café where a celebration was underway. No injuries were reported, according to NOS and Omroep West. Authorities received a call at approximately 9:50 p.m regarding a "large group of people" setting off fireworks near the venue they were immediately met with fireworks directed at them additional officers were dispatched to the location “Violence and aggression against emergency responders is unacceptable,” the spokesperson stated police cleared the café of visitors and cordoned off the street no arrests have been made in connection with the fireworks attack Police have launched an investigation and have seized fireworks from the scene details regarding the exact number of officers targeted and the type of fireworks used remain unclear The owner of the café declined to comment on the incident when contacted by NOS and Omroep West on Sunday morning a total of 12,265 police personnel reported experiencing aggression or violence while on duty Official statistics for 2024 have not yet been released 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 (Rien) van Geest passed away at the age of 91 If there ever was anyone who lived and breathed the produce trade van Geest from auction Naaldwijk - taken over from his father-in-law - Rien founded Van Geest International bv (VGI) in 1974 Because the future was not in commission trading Rene and Philip also joined the family business in the following years and further developed VGI into what it is today VGI celebrated its 50th anniversary in June a milestone Rien was still able to witness during his lifetime he was also insightful and extremely helpful to those who asked him for advice after more than two years of very fine home care by an incredibly kind care au-pair With his joy and gratitude to be surrounded daily by his family and the good care but quickly blurred as Alzheimer's took more and more hold on Rien's memory is it still busy?" That was Rien: Rien was VGI and VGI is Rien The primus inter pares of the van Geest family Rien's memorial service will be in the Ontmoetingskerk in Naaldwijk on Saturday 13 July Condolences are possible on 12 July in the same Ontmoetingskerk from 19.00 - 19.40 hrs Correspondence address: Van Beuningenstraat 29 In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Alzheimer's Foundation via www.alzheimer-nederland.nl/doneren Click here to view the funeral card FreshPublishers © 2005-2025 FreshPlaza.com © Lucas van der WeeThe buildings are CO2-neutral. The use of energy is strongly reduced by means of a variety of modern-day techniques and materials such as triple glazing, LED-lighting and the control of lighting and ventilation based on (the degree) of human presence. The energy nonetheless needed is largely derived sustainably through over 1.120 m2 of partly thermal pv-panels with a joint revenue of 115.000 kWh per year. Phase Change Materials function as a thermal buffer storage. © Lucas van der WeeOpen staircases are prominently positioned, stimulating their own use and with that a healthy use of the building. Daylight gets through everywhere and is omnipresent. The materials are robust, need little maintenance and were produced sustainably. SectionSustainability was also achieved through the method of industrial, flexible and demountable (IFD) construction, which rendered the realization highly efficient and made for a minimum of materials and waste. A flexible use and optimal possibilities for the re-use and recycling of elements are also key within the method. © Lucas van der WeeFitting in with the urban scheme, the building basically consists of a long rectangular volume. At its backside, a generic bay of three storeys contains the public consulting rooms, the restaurant kitchen, offices and the historic archive with accompanying reading room. © Lucas van der WeeThe exterior of the municipal office at the Laan van de Glazen Stad has a matter-of-fact appearance; the interior is spacious, inviting and representative. The building consists of two generic office bays with a high, luminous and green atrium in between them. Among others things, the atrium comprises the reception and restaurant. It has a strong visual relation with the entrance square. © Lucas van der WeeThe municipal office has an overall appearance that is both professional and attractive. As in the public and administrative center, the colors used for the interior elements stem from the colors in the Westland logo. As an identity-enhancing element, wall-wide photo prints with typical scenes from the Westland life are used in a variety of spaces. You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email Dutch brand Sir Edmond Gin has opened its new headquarters (HQ) in Naaldwijk to support its growth The new home of Sir Edmond Gin aims to reinforce the brand’s commitment to ‘quality and excellence’ in a global market and boost its position in the premium spirits category the new HQ in Naaldwijk is part of Sir Edmond’s larger strategy focused on sustaining growth while optimising the brand’s market approach in an ever-evolving and competitive industry The development underscores the brand’s commitment to its partners and consumers introducing a refreshed market engagement strategy Sir Edmond Gin has been actively engaging with both industry professionals and consumers From city bars to on-trade promotions like ‘Win Your Favourite Event Tickets’ and the Sir Edmond Gin Truck’s tour of Europe the brand’s hands-on approach has reportedly boosted its visibility significantly the gin is crafted with a blend of six botanicals which distinguishes it from traditional juniper-led gins The brand is available in several markets worldwide, including in global travel retail, Aruba, Taiwan Furthermore, the brand engaged the on-trade in Italy with its Gin & Sound Pairing cocktail competition last year Sir Edmond Gin will focus on further expansion and innovative initiatives to ‘solidify its leadership in the industry.’ We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings we will not be able to save your preferences This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again GrowOrganiX prepares for a new season of growing organic hot fruit vegetable plants at the end of September It will be the second season for the young company and it would have been close to being the first Looking for a greenhouse to fulfill its big ambitions they started in the greenhouses formerly occupied by Plantise and between 10 and 15 October it was already time for sowing "We made a flying start and learned a lot in our first year," Wim van Marrewijk looks back together with managing director Sion Eichmüller on the eve of a new breeding season He laughs: "We also learned more in the first season than we cared to." Fast into productionAnyone considering that the time between getting the key and the start of the breeding season was so short understands that it was a challenge Getting a 4.3-hectare nursery operational again in a short time is no mean feat "We used our first year to analyze all the processes after a preparation of three times nothing." formed from a joining of forces between the family-run companies Van Marrewijk of Maassluis and Max Schwarz of Villigen Sion: "We want to be the best in this field the propagation of organic starting material for tomatoes A lot of hard work has gone into laying down the processes in protocols Wim: "In the first half of our first season it went a lot better and we also got compliments from customers." Wim has noticed that in the vegetable plant world growers are extra critical of the plants they get He himself was the same when he worked for an organic grower there is always a bit of nature at play as well Not everything is completely controllable." "I was surprised to see that one day more or less of propagation can make a difference of seven to eight euro cents in the cost price of a plant plant breeders work with the smallest margins It is important that our cost price as plant breeders does remain realistic especially now that there are substantial cost increases with regard to new rootstocks." "Also what the choice of one rootstock or another does to the final cost price varies But also how many plants you put on a square meter has an impact." it is important to have the greenhouses as full as possible during the year Besides hot vegetable plants for the local market therefore also raises plants for other markets we continue with warm vegetable plants for Switzerland organic cultivation is growing a lot faster than here we are growing sweet potato starting material and plan to produce certified organic snack vegetable plants with their own varieties as well as a distinctive flavor." Real-time track&traceTo take new steps they would like to be able to track and trace plants in real time which they would like a data analyst to work on "Reliability is one of the most important things in our industry With more insight into our (cultivation) processes when the first plants are sown and in the greenhouse growers will also stop by again to see their ordered plants grow more uniformity in a batch of plants is also our focus We have also invested in the greenhouse so that processes that can work automatically High-tech propagationIn the slightly longer term GrowOrganiX's ambition is to grow to another location "High-tech propagation of organic vegetable plants in a new greenhouse is our goal," Wim points out Sion: "But then last year all the cards started to fall at once in the right direction and we started quickly here in Naaldwijk We are not easily satisfied with where we are We are bloodthirsty and full of passion for organic." For more information:GrowOrganiX[email protected]www.groworganix.nl/nl FreshPublishers © 2005-2025 HortiDaily.com it was mainly 'red and round' varieties that dominated the scene in ToBRFV-resistant tomato varieties This was also the case at Axia Vegetable Seeds but their range has since expanded to include resistant 'colors and specialties' The breeding company was not the first on the market with resistant varieties but now sees rapid developments in variety development you need to have ice cream," summarizes Cees Kortekaas the swift development of ToBRFV resistances in tomato breeding There was a rush to provide growers with solutions quickly the tomato specialists came together to chart the course "We selected our top 8 varieties and the 4 varieties in which we saw a lot of international potential to first add resistance through backcrossing." 99.9%Among those varieties are Axia's 'showpieces' such as the cluster tomato Macxize and cherry tomato Maxxiany The breeding company has decided not to give new names to resistant varieties but simply to add 'XR' to the already known names the varieties are '99.9% identical' to the non-resistant varieties the first resistant varieties were planted on a large scale in Axia's demo greenhouses and with commercial growers "Around 650 hectares are now commercially available." He expects to make significant progress with resistant acreage next season It helps when growers switch from 25 plants to tens of hectares in one go as has already happened in the Netherlands with the variety Macxize "And we're also making big strides in North America." Learning to grow with new varieties With the start of the cultivation of resistant Axia varieties the accumulation of cultivation data also began we don't yet have three to five years of data We sometimes see small differences and slightly different reactions of the crop to conditions in the greenhouse What helps is that the salespeople in the field at Axia are almost exclusively former growers "All our resistant varieties are somewhat more compact than their non-resistant counterparts This is a pleasant characteristic of the donor variety from which the resistance comes." Premium with resistanceAnother difference is in color He is focused on the retail side of the chain at Axia and markets the varieties the color of our resistant varieties is better than that of the non-resistant original the green parts stay fresh longer and the fruits are better attached to the cluster One of our varieties that is positioned as premium on the supermarket shelf Those who come to taste test blindly can't tell our varieties apart the cards have been reshuffled in recent years "More varieties have been admitted than before within certain segments." Now that there is more resistant offer "We're looking beyond just a tick for resistance," William notes are quickly accepted in retail because of their valued New in the demo at Axia: a new black tomato More colorNot all showpieces at Axia are resistant yet Premium variety Axiany does not yet have an 'XR' This variety is not yet available with ToBRFV resistance A consequence of the high standards they set for themselves the number of people in the laboratory has grown from four to sixteen "The next series of resistant varieties are coming up quickly behind the first series," knows William "That's why I was able to show so much more color and also more specialties with resistance at the Global Tomato Congress recently." as well as trials in their own demo greenhouses Cees: "Here you can see multiple generations of a variety in a row and then you see how we are getting closer to that 99.9% step by step." construction activity will be visible next to Axia's existing location where the striking 'villa office' is also located "A new greenhouse and a new research center will be added This is important for resistance research and will accelerate it," knows Cees "We felt we needed to come forward with the recent developments we also have a new golden and new black tomato With resistance against ToBRFV to follow in about a year and a half Plenty of color in the presentation room of Axia with increasingly more resistant varieties For more information: Axia Vegetable Seeds [email protected] www.axiaseeds.com You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience. Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world As people everywhere cancel events and big cut-flower orders, the ripples reach into Dutch auction halls and Kenyan rose fields. Share Share Share Share When Meredith Dean pictured her May wedding she imagined her guests walking through a meadow of wildflowers and a circle of flowers would surround Dean and her beau as they exchanged vows A wall of flowers would serve as a backdrop for photos Vases of buds would run down the center of long dining tables in a barn in New York’s Catskills Still more flowers would hang above the dance floor Dean had chosen the date so spring blooms would be at their peak: bright yellow daffodils leaving it to her floral designer to decide how many stems to order a 29-year-old who works in development at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan When authorities cautioned against holding events for more than 250 guests her colleagues told her not to worry—the wedding was still months off the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans should avoid gathering in groups larger than 50 for the next eight weeks a research scientist for a pharmaceutical company Neither of them would put friends and family at risk Dean called her wedding planners and told them she wanted to postpone the celebration “I’m not ashamed of having feelings,” she says A delayed wedding is hardly a disaster during a pandemic that’s killing thousands of people a day But in greenhouses from the highlands of Ecuador and Colombia to the shores of Kenya’s Lake Naivasha growers were already stacking roses in compost heaps Within days of the lockdown orders in the U.S farmers are unloading ripening grapes at one-sixth the usual price their former suppliers will still be around to sell to them One of the first people Dean texted after she postponed her wedding was her floral designer who works from the first floor of a quaint gray building with white trim in Bernardsville and on weekends she designs elaborate arrangements for big events Her wedding clients typically spend from $5,000 to $10,000 Dean was one of the first brides to contact Clare after the CDC recommendation all Clare’s clients planning April weddings were scrambling to pick dates in the fall as the number of Covid-19 cases in New Jersey passed 1,000 the governor ordered all but essential businesses to close I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Flowers are usually ordered about two weeks in advance so Clare hadn’t yet placed orders with her wholesaler in New Jersey for Dean’s wedding But she’d been planning to request some hard-to-find blossoms from an auction in the Netherlands More than 40% of the world’s flower exports pass through that country’s auction houses The flower trade is a miracle of modern capitalism A chain of cold storage starts with stems being picked in places as far-flung as Africa and flown to Amsterdam to be auctioned off They’re then repacked into more cold trucks and planes and delivered to supermarkets The auctions are run by a cooperative, Royal FloraHolland, formed a century ago by a group of growers who met in a pub and devised a system to better control how their flowers were sold. Royal FloraHolland now runs four auction sites that handle the bulk of the global trade a concrete warehouse larger than 75 soccer fields workers fill it with truckloads of chrysanthemums Buyers assemble in rooms filled with computer screens Clare’s order likely would have gone from her wholesaler to a broker here The blooms are sold under the traditional Dutch auction system in which prices start high then tick lower as a clock counts down electric tractors pull long trains of wagons loaded with blooms from one side of the warehouse to the other The average day sees more than 100,000 transactions Most of the flowers end up elsewhere in Europe even as the Netherlands was reporting its first coronavirus infections But after Italy imposed a national lockdown France ordered nonessential stores to close and Germany called for the cancellation of most events international sales manager at Royal FloraHolland “Those are difficult phone calls,” he says Rose prices dropped to €0.07 (8¢) a stem that day workers tossed cartful after cartful of wrapped bouquets and potted houseplants on the floor so small tractors could scoop them into dumpsters The auction house could stabilize prices only by capping supply at 30% of last year’s level wakes up each morning at 4:30 to start his day at the Naaldwijk auction He’s been walking through the rows of flowers for most of his 50 years since he was a toddler visiting his father at work “You can fire a cannonball in the flower hall without hitting anybody,” he says Royal FloraHolland has asked buyers to bid from their home computers if possible many growers have stopped sending flowers altogether The cooperative estimates the outbreak will lead to more than $2 billion in losses Van der Meer says it took one and a half weeks to shred all the unsold flowers at Naaldwijk the Dutch florist who customarily donates thousands of blossoms for the pope’s Easter Mass decided not to send any this year The pontiff ultimately performed the liturgy inside St Peter’s Basilica rather than outside in the square surrounded by 30 tons of flowers and 80,000 people 42 of the cargo flights arriving at Aalsmeer each week came from Kenya whose climate allows roses to grow year-round The East African nation ships about $1 billion worth of flowers a year That figure represents tenfold growth since the 1990s as investments in infrastructure made large-scale exports possible More than 150,000 people now toil on Kenyan flower farms and laborers earn as little as $70 a month but it’s a steady paycheck in a country where those can be hard to come by Billy Coulson employs 1,200 people at Nini Flowers one of many farms in a valley north of Nairobi Giraffes sometimes wander up to his 50 greenhouses from which he usually exports 2.2 million stems each week selling mostly to big European supermarket chains such as Morrisons and went to work for Kenyan flower farms after serving in the infantry of the British army He lives on-site with his wife and three children His first cancellations came in early March even before Kenya saw its first Covid-19 case “We knew there was a problem in China,” Coulson says “We had no idea of the scale.” By mid-month his sales had dropped by more than half and to pay his workers to harvest the flowers He’s cut his staff to half time—two weeks on and two weeks off He estimates he’s losing €300,000 ($327,930) a month a level of disruption far worse than the Kenyan postelection violence and global financial crisis of more than a decade ago or than the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud that grounded many cargo flights in 2010 we’re faced with the prospect of closing down.” The workers will suffer most if farms shutter says she’s already unable to afford breakfast or lunch for her family she migrated to Lake Naivasha to find work on the flower farms Her credit cooperative has limited withdrawals and stopped making emergency loans She says that Nini has discussed providing $10 a month in emergency relief or distributing maize flour picking that date over one in June (too soon) and Halloween (too close to the U.S and floral designer were all amenable to the switch She’s only cautiously optimistic she’ll be able to get married in August and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has extended his state’s stay-at-home order order through mid-May no one knows whether an August wedding in the Catskills will be advisable or permitted President Uhuru Kenyatta locked down much of the country on April 6 hospitals and funeral parlors are overwhelmed Dean says she’s grateful her floral designer but Clare doesn’t know what she’ll be able to import once she reopens Dean’s vision for her wedding flowers is all but gone “But I know what they were going to be like.” Satellite Evolution GlobalGlobal Military CommunicationsSatTV an international electrotechnical and telecommunications company with more than 300 employees working in several divisions from various country offices in Europe has selected IaaS provider Worldstream to deliver data center services from its flagship data center in the Rotterdam/The Hague area in the Netherlands DAEL will use Worldstream’s data center for storage and backups of security services more specifically the storage and backup of thousands of AI-based smart camera surveillance solutions throughout the Netherlands DAEL Connectivity has selected Worldstream’s flagship data center in Naaldwijk the Netherlands and established a 10 Gigabit radio link which connects the data center through a point-to-point telecommunications connection with DAEL’s headquarters at 6KM distance.DAEL’s newest division DAEL Connectivity delivers custom made connectivity solutions As part of the DAEL Group it can offer a complete scalable and integrated portfolio of services which includes high speed point-to-point connections mesh networks as well as all different kind of streaming solutions used for sport-broadcasting and events At Worldstream’s data center location in the Netherlands DAEL Connectivity installed satellite dishes in a 60-meter high mast while a dedicated point-to-point 10 Gigabit radio link connects the facility with DAEL’s headquarters in the same ‘Westland’ region in the Netherlands Through this ultra-low latency radio transmission DAEL is now able to safely store video data of its AI-based smart camera surveillance service as well as various types of other data for its clients and significantly expand the company’s backup capabilities The company intends to gradually move an increasing volume of data storage to its server racks in the Worldstream data center For thousands of camera surveillance solutions located throughout the Netherlands DAEL Connectivity provides end-to-end (wireless) AI-based smart camera surveillance DAEL has stored all smart camera surveillance data including backups in its in-house operated server room To further enhance data security while adding scalability for camera surveillance management and data storage the Netherlands and established a 10 Gigabit radio link which connects the data center through a point-to-point telecommunications connection with DAEL’s headquarters Many people don’t know the power of point-to-point radio transmission it actually provides ultra-low latency connections even better than optical fiber and also at relatively long distances,” said Jeroen van Leeuwen Managing Director of DAEL Group“It’s great to have this enterprise-class data center of Worldstream nearby but we could have selected data centers in Amsterdam Rotterdam or Delft as well if the other data center services propositions would have been better,” said Jeroen van Leeuwen “Worldstream provides us with a highly customized solution through which we can flexibly meet the managed hosted camera surveillance requirements of our clients We are currently connecting new smart camera surveillance solutions across the Netherlands at a speed of hundreds of camera surveillance solutions per year The Worldstream flagship data center and their strategic plans to add new high-capacity facilities definitely add to our further growth It safeguards our ability to safely store high volumes of data for our expanding operations.” “Many people don’t know the power of point-to-point radio transmission even better than optical fiber and also at relatively long distances,” added Mr “Worldstream and DAEL customers in the Westland area in the Netherlands also benefit from this 60-meter high mast with radio transmission-based connectivity It provides them the ability to have their premises easily be connected with the Worldstream data center.” at about 6KM distanceThe satellite dishes installed in the mast by DAEL Connectivity to deploy dedicated 10 Gigabit radio links between the data center and their premises It opens up new opportunities for these organizations in the ‘Westland’ and Rotterdam/The Hague area as they will get easy access to Worldstream’s highly secured and compliant data center environment for the outsourcing of IT infrastructures or setting up backup data center locations “Deploying fiber-optic cables underground can be quite expensive time-consuming and sometimes impossible,” said Dirk Vromans “DAEL’s ultra-low latency connectivity option through the air gives organizations in the Westland area great new options Especially as we’ve just launched Worldstream Elastic Network a software-defined network with extensive IT infrastructure functionality built on top of our 10Tbit/s global backbone and available from our flagship data center.” “This Worldstream Elastic Network provides SMBs with easy and low-cost access to highly flexible and enterprise level IT features as well as seamless access to multiple top cloud providers,” added Mr “I think this partnership between Worldstream and DAEL opens up immense opportunities for companies in the region and beyond removing the barriers impeding digital transformation objectives and hybrid cloud adoption Not at least because DAEL Connectivity is able to extend their radio transmission reach throughout the Netherlands by the use of their fixed and mobile radio mast solutions.” Substantial expansion of Central Auctioning in 2024 we are working step by step towards a location-independent way of auctioning via Floriday optimal pricing and cost reduction are key points in this "Our ambition is to expand central auctioning to include all flowers and plants by 2024 We will now start with one central clock for green plants and then gradually connect the other products to central auctioning," says Léon Haasbroek but we will work hard to keep the impact of the number of changes as low as possible" he continues all roses are being auctioned on 4 central clocks "From the FPC we hear positive comments" says Paul van der Ven Team Manager Operations Dealmaking Auctioning "Growers indicate that prices are in line with expectations Large buyers are satisfied because they have fewer clocks to keep" he continues How do we keep them tied to the clock throughout the auction period Because Central Auctioning has made the auction times longer compared to the old auction times at Naaldwijk and Rijnsburg We facilitate buyers in this with services such as Marking and Clock Pre-Sales Several preliminary discussions have taken place with the FPC green plants which is very much looking forward to central auctioning we are taking a step towards 1 price moment A new positive step for the future of our green clock." said Ruben Mostert Team Manager Operations Dealmaking Plants adds: "The window display function of plant clocks is very important for the price mechanism in direct sales So this helps maintain a powerful clock." the 10th-anniversary celebration of Flexibell was grandly held on the Huangpu River in Shanghai Flexibell has completed a whole one-stop service for smart greenhouses in ten years and realized the localized production of greenhouse materials greatly reducing the tariff and transportation costs of greenhouse materials Flexibell also focuses on product design and R&D in solar energy and has a number of patents in various fields Deputy Ambassador of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in China Pierre Bell and signed on the registration board of the 10th anniversary of Flexibell together Acting Deputy Consul-General of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in China Agricultural Officer of the Shanghai Consulate took a commemorative photo on the sign-in board of the 10th anniversary of Flexibell The entire celebration was held on Yuexing No The 188㎡ open-air deck has an excellent perspective to enjoy the bustling night scenery on both sides of the Huangpu River everyone shared the joyous moment together With its unique art form and profound cultural connotation it showed the essence of Chinese traditional culture to the audience a lighting ceremony for the 10th anniversary of Flexibell was specially prepared at the Expo Axis and the lighting ceremony lasted for 20 minutes Flexibell systems shine on the Huangpu River Cocktails and refreshments were prepared on the deck and the Shanghai Star Band also brought wonderful performances to the guests Everyone sat around a table to talk and talk and enjoyed an auditory and visual feast together Growing the same amount of lettuce on 20 m² as on 200 m² can be done by using growing towers Dutch Lion developed a growing system for this purpose which is currently being validated at the World Horti Center in Naaldwijk an anthurium grower is also getting acquainted with the system for propagation Founder Vincent van der Gaag will give an update at the end of February The Managing Director will do this the day before an official harvest celebration with guests while taking a look at the striking cultivation system from above The system was devised for a greenhouse with a 7-meter leg height the cultivation system was built last autumn Cultivation of butterhead lettuce started in January The aim is to continue growing various crops at the World Horti Center to validate the system and In the greenhouse compartment for the test is a construction with four monorails The plants in the cultivation towers are watered via drippers Dutch Lion deliberately chose not to talk about "vertical farming." The market for vertical farming has gone through difficult times—and partly rightly so Daylightless multilayer growing did not prove easy for many companies during the energy crisis "Investments failed to materialize or were misspent cultivation companies had to stop or went bankrupt—partly because unit economics are unprofitable due to high energy costs and complicated automation Greenhouses use free daylight and technologies that have proven themselves for decades." Dutch Lion is brand-independent for LED lighting "We are now using all the advantages of vertical farming and all the advantages of growing in a greenhouse." Vincent already has a lot of operational experience with his distinctive cultivation system it had been applied in a daylightless cultivation container where the system was developed and extensively tested the cultivation towers were numbered with notes MechanicalThe system in the greenhouse still uses parts of the smart mechanical carousel technology that Vincent previously used in cultivation containers the several-meter-high cultivation towers no longer rotate The system is quite similar to a mobile gutter system for growing on water the heads of lettuce get more room to grow "We start heart-to-heart with 8 centimeters of distance One cylinder at the front controls the entire monorail completely mechanically "That reduces maintenance and keeps it as simple as possible." The towers consist of plastic parts that can be linked Daylight and air movementAnyone who starts growing vertically in a greenhouse can expect light loss for the lower heads of lettuce and the daylight LED lighting adjusts to the required light levels "We need more light than in horizontal cultivation but we recoup that with lower labor and heating costs because we are working on a much smaller cultivation area." To maintain a good climate between the towers The technology for this works with air hoses for optimal air movement we equalize the climate between below and above we take care of the air distribution ourselves The climate chamber takes care of creating the climate." Unit economicsThe developments at Dutch Lion have already attracted the attention of an investor with experience in the vertical farming market "We focus on unit economics with this system That was still a stumbling block in traditional vertical farming projects By being able to make the greenhouse 90% smaller the project CAPEX is 40% lower compared to an automated greenhouse with our system this results in 20% lower crop costs than with a comparable horizontal growing system." they believe "100%" in the benefits of hybrid growing several other parties in the horticultural sector have recently come forward with unconventional cultivation systems All are trying to offer alternatives to well-known systems focusing on labor savings and far-reaching automation A little further down the World Horti Center chooses to move tomato plants to the processing area instead of moving people to the tomato plants The overlap: the different parties all challenge the market with different types of cultivation systems "We found that we have up to 70% less watering compared to horizontal mobile guttering systems - which saves significantly on CAPEX and water consumption," Vincent (left beside the screen) shared with a group of invited guests on 6 March Indoor Ag-ConAlthough currently only the production phase of the cultivation system is included in the setup and harvesting to automated cleaning of the towers "Harvesting and re-sowing every day is important 365 days a year." Short crops are preferred the higher the cost of supplemental lighting," he says Dutch Lion targets new-build projects with the system but it is also possible to install the system in existing greenhouses The weight of the system is comparable to that of hanging gutters for tomato cultivation Dutch Lion will be present at Indoor Ag-Con The company can be found there at stand 725 For more information:Vincent van der GaagDutch Lion[email protected]www.dutchlionag.tech The start of Valstar and Van Eijk means that growers still have the option of having their unpacking activities carried out at the Royal FloraHolland hub in Naaldwijk This has been a priority within Royal FloraHolland over the past period The transfer of activities for various growers will be actively supervised by RFH account- and relationship management in the coming weeks all customers of FHS will be assured of appropriate services We have already taken several steps to bring supply and demand of flowers by product type together on one central national clock (One Auction) We now have a central national clock across 2 locations for cut anthurium With practical experience and in consultation with FPC Roos there is now also the green light for merging the rose clocks in Naaldwijk and Aalsmeer in the second half of this year The schedule for connecting the rose clocks at Rijnsburg is still being decided Royal FloraHolland is also working on its own real estate strategy One Clock and new logistics concepts not only result in a different use of space but also in a substantial reduction in the amount of space required Free space is available for this purpose in both Aalsmeer and Naaldwijk Royal FloraHolland is carrying out research into the feasibility of new construction in combination with the reallocation of the land that becomes available possibilities for rebuilding existing real estate are included in the study the development of Aalsmeer-East is being examined in concrete terms The fallow land will soon be made ready for construction In close consultation with growers and trading companies we are looking at strengthening the market place Royal FloraHolland is investigating the possibilities of functionally upgrading the Naaldwijk location One of the possibilities is the realisation of a modern logistics centre on TPW Mars It is also looking at the possibilities of converting existing space to accommodate new logistics concepts and at the forms of collaboration with Royal FloraHolland’s customers The (re)development of Royal FloraHolland’s property will be fully geared to new logistics concepts in line with Royal FloraHolland’s strategy The future-proof design of real estate makes it possible to optimise and expand the services provided to growers and buyers This development will enable both growers and traders and Royal FloraHolland to operate more effectively To read the rest of the story, please go to: Royal FloraHolland Two New Varieties Earn Valued AAS Winner Award At the moment, there is a lot of attention in the media about the development and spread of the coronavirus. In this news item, you can read more about preventive measures against the coronavirus at Royal FloraHolland. … In a moving ceremony at Yad Vashem on October 25, 2007, the title of Righteous Among the Nations was posthumously bestowed upon Hendrikus (Hein) and Martha Snapper of Holland responsible for saving all seven members of the de Hartog family Hein and Martha Snapper lived with their six young children in Naaldwijk a town in the western part of the Netherlands As head of the local labor exchange Hein witnessed the discriminatory measures taken against the Jews Unwilling to remain a bystander while the Jews were being deported from Holland in the summer of 1942 the Snappers took in a Jewish family from Rotterdam who had been desperately trying to find a place to hide and arranged hiding places for Levy (Leen) and the five children Rosa stayed with the Snappers throughout the rest of the war even after German soldiers were billeted in their home the Snappers arranged for Leen and Truus to sneak over to their home to spend a few hours with Rosa with the beginning of a massive recruitment of Dutch men between the ages of 18 and 45 for forced labor in Germany Hein immediately destroyed personal data in the municipal registry creating new forged documents in their stead As a result of the efforts of Hein and Martha Snapper all of the de Hartogs survived the war in their respective hiding places Present at the ceremony were two of the surviving de Hartog children Truus de Hartog of the Netherlands and Salomon de Hartog of Israel as well as Mia Levy and five of the children of the rescuers Hein and Martha Snapper of California and Kentucky in the United States Also present were Former Supreme Court Justice and Chairman of the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous Among the Nations Justice Yaacov Turkel Director of the Righteous Among the Nations Department Ms 1st Secretary for Social and Cultural Affairs at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Israel Mr President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism Rabbi Uri Regev and many members of both the Snapper and de Hartog extended families Speaking on behalf of the Snapper children the words ‘Give us today our daily bread’ were more than a prayer they were a divine commission that mom and dad lived every day of their lives Speaking on behalf of the de Hartog family Truus referred to the inscription on the medal presented by Yad Vashem to Righteous Among the Nations “He who saves one human being is as if he saves an entire world" relating “this is what my parents specifically always said about the Snappers.” The Yad Vashem website had recently undergone a major upgrade The page you are looking for has apparently been moved We are therefore redirecting you to what we hope will be a useful landing page For any questions/clarifications/problems, please contact: webmaster@yadvashem.org.il an incident occurred on the IT network at our Rijnsburg location It was not possible to resolve the incident in time all operational processes at Rijnsburg came to a virtual standstill The cause was identified and finally resolved at the end of the afternoon Because it was unclear for a long time whether it would be possible to solve the network problems in time to activate an emergency scenario in which we assumed that the malfunction in Rijnsburg would not be solved before tomorrow's auction process This was to minimise the impact in the interest of our growers and buyers In addition to the vote on the 2025 member rates and the sale of Bloemblad-2 in Naaldwijk there was a review of November's member sessions in the Netherlands There was also an explanation of the 2025 annual plan and budget and a business update from the Management Board Members' meeting: farewell and appointment of Members' Council members symbolic transfer of chairmanship of Members' Council 5 members of the Members' Council took their leave: Arno van der Maarel they were warmly thanked for their commitment to the Members' Council a Royal FloraHolland diamond was presented to Arno van der Maarel for his many years of commitment to the cooperative in various committees Canadian growers might not raise an eyebrow for the amount of snow that has fallen in the Netherlands over the weekend but for Dutchies the weather conditions are exceptional.  Also today in Netherlands everything is still white Here's an update from your horti-weather channel.  Xander van der Zande compared 1963 with 2021 on LinkedIn the greenhouses were covered in snow as well.  Collapsed greenhousesAlthough a photo shared by Xander van der Zande shows that in 1963 greenhouses were covered in snow as well The snow makes for beautiful pictures but also causes inconvenience The first reports of damage to greenhouses arrived during the course of Sunday after it started snowing last Saturday.  an 11,000 metre square greenhouse even collapsed The deck could no longer bear the weight due to accumulated drifting snow A truck next to the gable of the greenhouse prevented it from collapsing The grower has started heating the meantime The insurance company has already visited the site Insurance companies are currently taking stock and say that several claims have already been received We are also taking stock and continue to share information Door ophoping van stuifsneeuw is vanavond een gedeelte van een warenhuis aan de Opstalweg in Naaldwijk bezweken onder het gewicht van de sneeuw. pic.twitter.com/4oA21yveCc Bijzondere plaatje uit het Westland. De eerste schademeldingen aan kassen zijn al binnen. #sneeuwdruk pic.twitter.com/veLTrWd2Uf Na alle leuke foto's en filmpjes over de #sneeuw komen nu de filmpjes en foto's met leed binnen. Deels ingestorte kassen. pic.twitter.com/W18DrOGn00 Hier werd toch wel gestookt. pic.twitter.com/7muXLUm7Eo Weekend of snowIt started snowing last Saturday the industry had been warned for the weather Also suppliers and growers prepared themselves for the winter Contract workers were preparing to shovel snow and fight slipperiness The rule was: make your reservations in time to avoid a lot of trouble And then in the night from Saturday to Sunday it started snowing in more and more places Met goede en grote machines 🚜nog snel “effe” de rijruggen afvlakken zodat de beglazers van Voorwinden/Havecon volgende week veilig door kunnen werken mocht het hard gaan vriezen.👌 pic.twitter.com/mvzJbf1JU8 Biologie leveringen op zaterdag ivm naderend winterweer ❄️ #groeispecialist #biologie #vergroenen pic.twitter.com/fbU3hTK9ss Vincent van Niel of Zadelaers-Boogaert Kwekerijen spoke Winter in Andijk. Photo: Jansen Paprika Growers also blew steam into the greenhouse to combat the snow Heating just a little bit longer to get the snow off and then the energy screen can be closed again shared Rob van der Wouw (photo above) from Jongfruit but growers also want the optimum indoor climate for their crops people worked hard to clear the way to the greenhouse and dock pic.twitter.com/zUKScunlpB Gelukkig is @MarelLoonwerk op zondag druk bezig met het sneeuw vrij maken van het dock, en de toegangswegen van Westlandpeppers De Lier pic.twitter.com/mmZGysyhs3 FlockdownLogistics were challenging yesterday and today despite the work that was done to clear the roads of snow reports reached the editors this morning that the supply of a large supermarket chain was not possible or hardly possible due to a 'flockdown' (here from our German editors) A driving ban has been announced for trucks over 7.5 tonnes in various regions along the border with the Netherlands various Dutch hauliers stated this morning it is advised not to drive if not strictly necessary Pictures of empty shelves were already shared this weekend Photos of an empty banana shelf appeared in the NOS liveblog And for growers it will remain exciting for a while Veel mensen aan het hamsteren in de supermarkt. Volle parkeergarage, lege vakken, lange rijen bij de zelfscankassa.#sneeuwbui, #vorst, #DekaMarkt pic.twitter.com/oYrbmCg8M4 Net als met storm is ook na sneeuwval een kas een angstig bezit 🙄 pic.twitter.com/ef0Bq90J7Z as Henry van der Lans put it: "Het kan sneeuwen en het kan dooien maar als je op je smoel valt ben je vergeten te schuiven en/of te strooien (It may be thawing or it may be snowing you should have started earlier gritting or shovelling).  we are committed to making the process one step better every single day; this involves reducing the number of errors and increasing the predictability of delivery times We are also working hard behind the scenes to switch plants to order picking in Naaldwijk We are learning a lot from our initial experiences with plants in Rijnsburg We previously thought that we would be switching plants in Naaldwijk to order picking after the summer Researchers say improved standards are urgently needed to make the importing of plants more sustainable and less damaging Invasive species including snakes and lizards are slipping unnoticed into northern Europe in vast shipments of cut flowers and potted plants geckos and Italian wall lizards are among the animals making their way to the region in potted olive trees destined for gardens and green space according to the study published on Friday in the journal Bioscience The species can cause extensive damage to food crops and the native environment citing the threat invasive snakes are posing to ecosystems on previously snake-free Mediterranean islands like Majorca The researchers warned that reptiles are “just the tip of the iceberg” spiders and agricultural pests are also being imported into the UK and northern Europe in cut flowers and other ornamental plants the volume of fast-moving plant shipments makes it difficult to detect species It comes as the multimillion-pound global market is rapidly growing with an increasing geographic reach The researchers said climate change could see disease-carrying insects like mosquitos which previously would have died from the cold in northern Europe Rising temperatures could also lead to some ornamental plants being imported from warmer climates flourishing in the wild as invasive species in countries like the UK The study highlighted other environmental and health impacts caused by the trade including environment-harming microplastics and agrochemicals entering the soil health-harming pesticide residues and huge water use in producer countries as well as a wider carbon footprint from transporting cut flowers between continents Professor William Sutherland of the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology said: “Ornamental olive trees for sale in the UK can be over 100 years old with many hiding places amongst their gnarly bark and the soil they’re transported in “This is incredibly risky in terms of importing pests “Adult snakes and lizards are just the tip of the iceberg what’s the chance of us spotting small insects and fungi – the things that really cause the problems?” also from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology and a senior author of the paper unwanted hitchhikers are getting through customs import checks all the time.” He warned that suppliers often do not operate within the law citing high-value plants such as orchids and cacti being illegally stripped from tropical habitats and included in shipments “Regulations to prevent the trade in protected wild plants are challenging to enforce on a large scale,” he said The researchers said improved standards on imported plants are urgently needed While the trade remains critical for economies worldwide and supports rural communities across the world Dr Petrovan said: “We need to push to make the industry more sustainable through things like certifications and better regulation and to work with those involved in the trade to better understand the risks and how to mitigate them.” An Environment Department spokesperson said: “This Government will never waver in its duty to support the UK’s biosecurity “The Border Target Operating Model continues to protect our crops and food supply chain from pests and disease while minimising any disruption to trade.”