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What could be more Dutch than tulips? Polderpride has responded to this. Van der Plas’ new flourishing partner – accounting for 225 hectares of tulips in the Netherlands – stands for truly Dutch: the Netherlands, polder and pride. Tulip season, come on!

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Truly Dutch

The name Polderpride stands for truly Dutch: the Netherlands, polder and pride. The brand name was created 12 years ago, and now there are seven members. Because it was becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish themselves from the clock in Naaldwijk, Rijnsburg and Aalsmeer, the members sat down with several tulip growers. They came up with the idea of auctioning under the Polderpride brand name. In recent years, this new flourishing partner of Van der Plas has gained momentum. Direct trade is increasingly taking over: in total, the 7 members represent around 80 million stems on a yearly basis.

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Long term partnerships

Sandra de Wit has been selling for the entire PolderPride since 2018: “We are building more and more relationships and working on long-term collaborations. That is also the case with van der Plas. We seek each other out to move forward together, and that is exactly where PolderPride wants to go. Of course, we take the trends of the export companies with us, but more certainty and building even more relationships suit us perfectly!” These collaborations also work well for customers because they know precisely where the tulips come from and are good quality. Both parties benefit from this.

Sandra explains that the PolderPride segment is wholesale with a distinctive range of florist quality. “In total, our 7 growers offer at least 70 varieties. Every year new species are added, and some species are dropped. All companies produce their bulbs, and we produce the flowers from that bulb. Polderpride is really from bulb to flower!”

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1 million steal a day

The companies account for a total of 225 hectares in the Netherlands. About 1 million stems are processed per day, which is currently the season’s peak. A cycle from seed to a batch of tulips takes 25 years. According to Sandra, the more enormous strains on the market today have already had to cross our parents. “So much can happen in 25 years, and so much is still unknown. A tulip can have a certain disease, be sensitive, and in the end, the consumer also has to say: ‘hey, this is a nice variety of tulip, we want that!’”

The 7 growers are participating in MPS and have started a process for Global Cap. Tulips are very sustainable in terms of energy consumption. For example, a tulip is only in the greenhouse for three weeks a year, unlike a lily in the greenhouse for about 90 days.

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Blue paper

From PolderPride, all tulips must meet a quality level. If they do not comply, the tulips may not be wrapped in the famous blue paper. Sandra: “PolderPride has now become a cooperative association. In addition to the Dutch companies, we have two companies in New Zealand and two in Chile, which means we have a time difference of exactly half a year. We can still enjoy this beautiful flower when the Dutch tulip season is over!”

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