product & market innovation that supply specialized products that their customers want and are willing to pay for. Greenhouse harvests can also become an opportunity for inviting the local community into the production facility to see where their food is made. In the case of the perennial polycultures described later in this document, customers can even have the opportunity to harvest their own berries once or twice a season. This could become both a cost saving strategy (reduced harvest expenses) as well as a marketing approach: bringing customers closer to home. Hundreds of new, creative opportunities for using social media and local, direct marketing have opened up in the last decade, all of which coincide with the potential shiſt to polyculture. OPPORTUNITIES & APPROACHES FROM POLYCULTURE Moving to a polyculture focused approach to greenhouse production requires an entirely new market strategy from existing wholesale production. This switch can in many ways be considered more of a marketing challenge than a production challenge. The list below outlines some opportunities and approaches for product differentiation and market innovation that naturally occur in the shiſt to polyculture. › › Increase product portfolio to sell products to local consumers: sell lower quantities of product at higher prices. › Collective product marketing for local sale (sharing risks and marketing costs between growers). › Make use of new technology to match customers with their desired products. For example, create an online community of customers where they can vote for their favorite products, assemble customized “vegetable packages,” and pre-order products at a guaranteed price. Use this data to automatically adjust production plans each year. › Build local markets by offering the same products consistently year-round through winter greenhouse production, but also emphasize the value of a seasonal sales pattern in marketing efforts. › Trend of consolidation in the Dutch greenhouse sector. ( Innovation Network report: “Het innovatiesysteem voor de glastuinbouw in 2020, authors: Marko Hekkert and Jacco Farla. Data source: Productschap Tuinbouw and LEI, 2010) Cater to local tastes: develop new products as test cases and add them into the production mix. › Develop relationships with local customers ensuring their loyalty even in times of crisis. › › › Use sustainability credentials and local production for product differentiation. Create targeted product collections (salad mixes, stir fry mixes, fruit pie mixes, etc.) for bundled sales. Sell “mix and match” vegetable packages, allowing customers to exchange unwanted items at the shop and giving them a chance to buy added goods. › Allow customers to pick selected crops (berries, tree fruit) on their own from certain sections of the greenhouse, thus saving money on harvest labor. Integrate product drying and processing for products that cannot be sold fresh. Pagina 16
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