Summit Gerbera: one platform for 270 different gerbera daisies
12 Feb In 2019, 8 gerbera growers in Westland and Lansingerland joined forces. They had been working closely together for a couple of years and decided to form one organisation: Summit Gerbera. By sharing their knowledge and expertise and taking on projects together, the growers improved the growing conditions. This development benefitted both the gerbera growers and the exporters.
Selling under the same name
“Nowadays, we all sell under the name Summit Gerbera, use the same packaging and set up a common and extensive webshop. Exporters can buy 270 different kinds of gerberas from one platform, for both the large-flowering gerbera daisies and the mini gerbera daisies.” Says Juriaan Weerheim of Nursery De Zuidplas. “This saves exporters lots of time and it saves us costs by outsourcing our sales.”
Another advantage of Summit Gerbera is that the individual growers can grow less kinds of gerbera daisies. This way they are able to focus on the needs of their gerbera daisies and optimizing their growing conditions. This results in even more beautiful and healthy gerbera daisies.”
Not competitors, but an inspiration
Every four weeks the growers of Summit Gerbera come together to discuss the progress of their projects, sales and developments of growing responsibly. Juriaan: “The growers of Summit Gerbera don’t see each other as competitors but as an inspiration. For example, our nursery has made huge improvements in the area of sustainable growth. We turn residual waste into heating for the greenhouse, recycle waste water and use organic crop protection as much as possible. We share these skills with other growers and they share their expertise with us. This way we help each other.”
Digitization project
The nurseries are also working together very closely on the area of digitization. Juriaan: “Starting 1 april 2021, the European Union will require all orders of floriculture to be processed digitally. This enables the auction to provide insight into the transactions. It’s a large and complex process, but we’ve nearly completed it. We were able to do this much quicker because of our cooperation and it decreased the costs significantly.”
Juriaan looks to the future optimistically. “We’ve built a relationship of trust with each other. The coming years we’ll start multiple new projects which will improve our efficiency, quality and sustainability.”
