Interview with Erik van den Bergh, Managing Director, Van Iperen International
Van Iperen as a group has existed for 100 years as a family owned business. The company historically serves growers in The Netherlands, being one of the market leaders in greenhouse supplies and arable crops. The group has its own production facilities near the port of Rotterdam for speciality liquid fertilizers as well as water-soluble NPK, which are among the largest of its kind in Europe. The group has a consolidated turnover of over 300 million Euro yearly. In 2010, van Iperen International was created to serve the export markets. It has rapidly grown since then with offices and people on all continents and sales in over 100 countries. Van Iperen International offers the products produced inside the group but also represents their minority shareholder ADOB in the global market being their marketing partner under the Van Iperen and Eurosolids brands. Next to that the company represents several specialty fertilizer producers that have no access by themselves to the world market. Van Iperen International also has a strategic partnership with Acadian Plant Health, for the marketing and formulation of seaweed-based products. The company is also focused on two of their most innovative projects, being P4P biostimulants and GreenSwitch sustainable organic nitrates, further introduced below. Agriculture in Europe is very developed with high yields and quality products and as matter of fact we can be proud about that. But it is now time to work on increased sustainability in parallel and show the world how to do so. Soil organic matter content deserve all the focus, which by the way can bring a significant contribution to compensate carbon oxide emission. Another
focus should be to bring more circularity in agricultural systems. Like we do with GreenSwitch combining all the agricultural sectors in one project of N-circularity: producing nitrates from manure that will be utilized in greenhouses and outdoor fruit and vegetables, instead of applying synthetically produced nitrates (with a heavy carbon footprint) and have nitrogen (NH3) emission into the air from manure at the same time.
Talking about sustainability and reducing carbon footprint, we all know the need for Nutrient Use Efficiency and Water Use Efficiency. But how to do
it? At Van Iperen we try to be with our feet on the ground and help the farmer not only with innovate products (like our Water-soluble NPK with IPE Technology for NUE and WAKE-Up for WUE) but also show how to fertigate or calculate his total nutrient program for instance. Grow more with less and how to do so.
Moving to specifics. Van Iperen is involved in two projects – Plants for Plants and GreenSwitch.
Let's take Plants for Plants first - please summarise the objective of this project, the trial results and the next steps.
Plants for Plants ® or P4P is our project that started more than 10 years ago by Adriano Altissimo in Italy, with the aim to develop a new generation of biostimulants derived from commercial plants. That is why “Plants for Plants”. The starting point is how to select and utilize the mechanism of one plant species against a certain abiotic stress factor (like drought) on another commercial crop. After so many years of scientific research we have selected the first prototypes that are tested in the field for several years and being formulated with the help of the European LIFE subsidy. The first commercial products boost the crop in different processes, from phosphate use efficiency up to drought tolerance and yield level. With the help of our European network of distributors we have done field demonstration trials in 30 crops in all climate zones and 18 countries in Europe and with great results. Performance is not only obtained under abiotic stress conditions or on poor soils, but we even have very encouraging results in what seems optimal conditions on Dutch fertile soils with high input of nutrients. We are sharing the results with our partners and in several publications as well as on our website. Crops vary from cereals, potatoes to fruits, such as apricot and apple. Commercial introduction is foreseen in season 2022 so we are in full preparation with the go-to-market program. Really exciting to bring new biostimulants next to the proven humic acid, seaweed extracts and amino acid that dominated the market of biostimulants for so many years.
And for GreenSwitch - another interesting project - please summarise the aims of the project, and the progress so far.
GreenSwitch produces organic nitrates derived from manure. It is an innovative, patented process in a bioreactor that starts with digestate out of a biogas installation and delivers a liquid potassium nitrate solution with a close to zero carbon footprint. Our aim with GreenSwitch is to obtain N-circularity and zero carbon footprint for nitrate fertilizers. This is a big challenge as today all nitrates applied in greenhouses and open field are synthetically produced. The chemical production is based on technologies that we know as Haber-Bosch and Oswald processes, developed about 100 years ago. Great achievements, but extremely energy demanding therefore with a heavy carbon footprint. We shall give the greenhouse grower as well as all fruit and vegetable farmers an important step stone towards full sustainability, without having to change their cropping systems. GreenSwitch is a unique sustainable nitrate fertilizer that we now produce in our first commercial plant in the east of the Netherlands. We started to deliver several Dutch and overseas greenhouses. These greenhouse growers (among them the largest in the country) are eager to join the project as early adopters to prove that they can become more sustainable even in high tech greenhouses. They also use it to better promote their own branded fruit or vegetables to the consumers.
From left to right: Erik Roelofs from Agro Energie Hardenberg, Phil van Wakeren from Pure Green Agriculture and Marc van Oers from Van Iperen International
Moving to Van Iperen's wider ambitions - are there other projects that you are involved in that have a sustainability dimension?
We believe that more and more fertilizers will be replaced by innovative alternatives that are circular or coming from waste streams. We have several such projects not only covering nitrogen. Our aim is however not only to make them circular or carbon neutral but still also to support current high-tech, intensive farming. With the world population continuing to grow we cannot afford to go down in efficiency and yield level.
More generally, in order to drive sustainable practices, what developments would Van Iperen like to see encouraged in farming systems throughout Europe and other regions?
Plain and simple: more fertigation, to address climate change, save water and improve the nutrient use efficiency. ●
Erik van den Bergh (on the right) and Geert van Adrichem, high-tech tomato grower
Van Iperen has a long history in providing specialty crop nutrition to growers in the Netherlands and in many markets around the world. Here, Erik van den Bergh, Managing Director, Van Iperen International discusses the sustainability challenges facing agriculture today and solutions the company has today and is working on for the future.
Before we talk about some of the projects that Van Iperen is involved in, let's begin with an overview of Van Iperen. Can you tell us a little about its history and its product portfolio?
Erik van den Bergh, Managing Director, Van Iperen International
When looking at agricultural systems in Europe, for example, what would Van Iperen highlight as the issues from a sustainability point of view?
Given Van Iperen's view on sustainability, where does the company feel it can play a role?
Target crops for the Plants for Plants project vary from from cereals, potatoes (pictured) to fruits, such as apricot and apple.
The first product to be produced is GreenSwitch Original, an organic, clear potassium nitrate solution
Front cover image: Aerial view of modern agricultural greenhouses in the Netherlands by GAPS
