Organic farming: our visit to Pluktuin van Geesje.

From coffee and cake to getting our hands dirty. 

We started the afternoon with tea, coffee and homemade cake made with berries grown on the farm, combined with chia seeds and organic agave from the Royal Ingredients portfolio.

After our first taste of the farm, we headed outside for a tour and learned more about organic and regenerative farming. One of the most interesting topics was the importance of long term soil health.

After more than seven years of natural farming practices, the soil at Pluktuin van Geesje is rich and healthy, allowing plants to develop strong and extensive root systems. Even during this year’s hot and dry weather, the fruit trees have remained resilient and required less additional watering.

We also met some of the farm’s four legged helpers. The pigs and piglets act as natural ploughs, turning and preparing the soil without heavy machinery. Around the farm, flowers support biodiversity and pollinators, alongside an abundance of fruit and vegetables, including beets, potatoes, pumpkins and one very impressive courgette picked by Marieke.

A little elbow grease

Of course, a farm visit would not be complete without doing some work ourselves. Some of us took on some serious weeding, while Barbara and Mike got creative with a DIY insect hotel. Others helped collect dead flower heads and keep the garden in shape.

For Jochem, the hands on afternoon was a welcome change from our usual routine:

“Last Friday we visited the Pluktuin van Geesje. It is very nicely situated and well maintained. We were welcomed with coffee and tea and some nice snacks that included our own ingredients. All in all, it was a nice change of pace compared to our office work.”

Getting involved in the practical side of farming gave us a new appreciation for the time, care and attention involved in growing food. It also offered a different perspective on the agricultural products and ingredients that eventually find their way into food applications.

Our ingredients on the table 

After all that work, it was time for some well earned snacks. This was another highlight of the afternoon, with several ingredients from the Royal Ingredients portfolio included in the food.

We enjoyed bread made with black sesame seeds, oyster mushrooms grown on the farm using old coffee grounds, and quinoa curry balls made with quinoa from our portfolio. Everything was served with refreshing ginger kombucha.

It was a nice way to experience familiar ingredients in a completely different setting. Instead of seeing them as products we work with every day, we could taste them as part of creative food applications.

As Tijmen put it:

“After being put to work hard at the peaceful farm, we were treated to delicious, unique snacks! For me, as a newcomer, it was a great way to get to know the team better.”

And the freshness certainly did not go unnoticed. Sepideh summed it up perfectly:

“The food was amazing and super fresh.”

A different kind of work

Our afternoon at Pluktuin van Geesje was a great way to celebrate Work Love. We stepped away from our desks, spent time together as a team and learned more about organic and regenerative farming in practice.

It also gave us the opportunity to see how soil health, biodiversity and farming methods are connected. For us, that made the link back to our daily work particularly interesting. At Royal Ingredients, ingredients are at the centre of what we do, so seeing another part of the food chain up close offered a valuable new perspective.

A productive afternoon, a little elbow grease, plenty of food for thought and, of course, cake, mushrooms, quinoa curry balls and kombucha. 

Sustainability at Royal Ingredients

This visit was one small example of how we continue to learn about the wider topics connected to our industry and our responsibility as a business.

Want to know more about our approach to sustainability and the topics we focus on? Visit our Sustainability page.