Grower Markus Hemmje: “At Royal FloraHolland, you feel supported. You’re never on your own.”

Heather plants in a wide range of colors: that is the specialty of the Hemmje brothers. About ten years ago, they took over the day-to-day management of their parents' Germany-based company Baumschule Hemmje. Markus is an ambassador and seasoned expert on Floriday: “Growers here in the area now ask me to help them with questions about the platform.”

At the time of this interview—in winter—the outdoor fields at Baumschule Hemmje are empty. There is snow on the ground, and all the young plants are in the warm greenhouse. Markus: “You should come and see it in August, when everything is in bloom. It's a beautiful sight.” Markus and his brother Axel like to keep their eyes on the horizon, focused on the future. They have to: they are the young generation that has to prepare the company for the current turbulent market. One of the brothers' latest purchases is a pruning robot, which ensures that every plant is cut exactly the same. "This gives us more uniformity. This is important, especially for our market. We mainly sell to retailers."

Always visible to existing and new customers
The company is in close contact with Royal FloraHolland, says Markus. There are regular consultations with account manager Alex de Groot, for example about the various trade fairs organized by the cooperative, developments in the market, customers, and Royal FloraHolland products. "For us, membership of the cooperative is an indispensable support for our business operations.  The contact with Alex is valuable. And thanks to the invoicing system, we don't have to worry about whether we'll get our money,“ says Markus. ”But the convenience of the logistics processes and booking trolleys also fits in perfectly with our own workflow." Markus also considers the joint venture with Veiling Rhein Maas to be valuable. “At the moment, we mainly use VRM for direct deliveries to our customers.”

Baumschule Hemmje's customers are supermarkets and garden centers in Scandinavia, Poland, England, the Netherlands, and Germany. It's a tough market, Markus agrees. But at the same time, demand from retailers is good because it's predictable: as a grower, you know exactly where you stand. The company sells almost everything directly through Floriday. A small portion of the plants goes to auction at the beginning of the season to let buyers know that the heather is back. "Our entire range is listed on Floriday. Customers can quickly and easily check what we have. That regularly brings us new buyers,“ Markus says enthusiastically. The payments, the logistics—Markus doesn't even want to think about doing business without Floriday. ”The platform supports us in all kinds of ways.”

A positive investment of time
If you want Floriday to work well in your company, you have to set aside time for it, he explains. Markus and his team received help with this from Floriday implementation consultant Geert Wijnands. “He gave workshops here at the company. And we could always contact him by phone or email with questions. That's how we built a solid foundation with Floriday in our company.” Working with Floriday has now become an integral part of the workflow, a work process that has been continuously refined over the past few years. Markus' team now adds photos of the plants in various stages to the online catalog, from young plants to mature plants in full growth. “This makes it immediately clear to the buyer what they can expect at any given moment.”

Of course, there are also areas for improvement. One point of attention is the link between Floriday and the software used by Hemmje Baumschule at the company. The extent to which Floriday can link to external software systems depends in part on the development choices made by these software suppliers. Royal FloraHolland is and will continue to be in discussion with various parties about this and encourages growers to pass this message on to their suppliers. Markus: “If everything connects seamlessly, Floriday's potential will be even greater.”

You are not alone
Markus is proud of the fact that the company grows its beautiful products in an increasingly sustainable way. For example, the company recycles its water, feeds electricity back into the grid, and, since last year, has been using special plastic tarpaulins on the fields outside to reduce water consumption. Baumschule Hemmje is Global G.A.P.-certified and is now aiming for full IDA certification. Markus believes this is important because customers are increasingly asking for certification and because sustainability is simply part of the company's DNA. “It takes quite a few hours to get everything right, but we are happy to invest that time,” he concludes. “And it's especially nice that Royal FloraHolland is also supporting us in this, for example through the workshop that Henk Weijs (business development manager at Royal FloraHolland, ed.) organized last year on IDA certification. It provides insight and you immediately feel that you're not alone in this.”