Animals

Rini “Our greenhouse is situated in south west of the Netherlands near the fascinating Brabantse Wal Nature Reserve with abundant flora and fauna”. When people visit his business however, animals and wildlife does not directly spring to mind. Nevertheless, when you enter the greenhouse and take a little time to study the plants and flowers you will notice a wide variety of fascinating insects. The reason for this is that since organic agriculture prohibits the use of agro chemicals, growers like Rini have to rely on nature to combat harmful insects and fight diseases.  This is necessary is because today’s consumer rightly expects a high quality product without insects or fungi. “Natural crop protection” is a fancy name for letting nature take care of itself.  Basically what happens is that natural predators are introduced into the greenhouse to feed on the harmful insects that can negatively affect the plant and the fruit.  Ladybirds, parasitic wasps and “fast action” mite predators cannot go long without food and therefore they actively hunt other “harmful” insects. 

It’s not just the job of the manager to keep an eye out on all the insects. Rini: “All our workers feel that they are also responsible and we teach them to scout around the greenhouse and see the difference between pest animals and predators”

Another insect that is also often found in Rini’s greenhouse but has a completely different job is the bumble bee. These hard workers pollinate the flowers of the cucumber, tomato, pepper and aubergine plants in an extremely effective manner.  Just as their cousins, the honeybees, bumblebees, are able to pollinate the flower at exactly the right time. Compared to their “cousins” bumblebees cope much better with low temperatures and lower light levels and generally work more quickly.