Pronk's passion
Grower Paul Pronk has been our regular grower of various primordial vegetables since the 1990s. On the ground in the North Holland de Goorn where his grandfather used to grow beets and tulips, Paul Pronk grows cheerfully further. Even though he left the tulips. "Tulips just aren't my thing," Pronk says. "I would rather grow carrots and beets! More challenge and much better too," he laughs.
Whereas the vegetables used to be brought to the auction of Avenhorn with barges through the Vaarpolder for trade, there are currently many pallets a week coming to Ridderkerk. "We started with Van Gelder with a box or thirty a week. We grow with each other, in my case from the first hour when I was just starting out twenty years ago." When Paul's grandfather started, there was five acres of cultivation, currently Paul is cultivating 130 hectares of land.
"The soil here is very suitable for beets. That's just a coincidence, a good composition of the ground. Here the beets get nice and smooth," Pronk proudly tells about its products. In addition to beets and carrots, Pronk also grows parsnips, jerusalem artichokes and other primordial vegetables. Sometimes also in mini-variant to grow a nice assortment. "To offer beautiful products, we experiment a lot and try new things regularly. This way we try to have a new product every year. In this way we work together on better products and a nice assortment."