As of this month, organic vegetable grower Rob van Paassen is taking a ‘superlative step’: the vegetables he grows in his greenhouse are no longer ‘just organic’, but also Demeter certified. With the Demeter certification and the Nature & More status, this family business proves that small-scale growers are particularly capable of delivering the quality that top chefs and consumers just love to put on the table in their quest for “culinary adventure”.
The aim of biodynamic farming is to revitalise nature, grow nourishing food and advance the physical health of humanity. Each biodynamic farm is conceived of as an organism with its own individual qualities and diversity of life. Reliance on home produced compost, manures and animal feeds is a key objective and external inputs are kept to a minimum. The traditional mixed farm with cattle, arable farming, greenhouse crops and fruit had a closed cycle with its own feed and manure. ‘I combine this approach with the modern sustainability Nature & More advocates,’ says van Paassen, who is continuously looking for innovations to further develop the business his father once started.
This ‘modern sustainability’ means that, despite the fact that the company is not wholly self-supporting, it is capable of functioning that way, for instance by supplying rejected produce as feed to an organic dairy farm in the vicinity, that in return supplies the required stable dung, which after composting forms the basis of his fertile soil. In biodynamic agriculture, compost is the soil’s nutrition and a connecting element that is capable of clustering the powers of nature, resulting in an unparalleled final product.
Biodynamic companies have been working according to these principles for 80 years, and the professional approach of father and son Van Paassen has now been awarded the Demeter quality seal. Enter code 183 on the www.natureandmore.com site for more information and click on the personal ‘Sustainability flower’ to learn more about the company’s sustainability performances. For now, you can take our word when we say that the special tomato varieties, cucumbers and sweet peppers from Oude Leede are delicious.