Six months ago, Top Fresh moved into a new building in Kraggenburg. Because of this, the cultivation, processing and trade company in carrots is ready for the future. Peter Matthijssen and Ronald Gielleit see an increase especially in the organic segment.

Top Fresh was founded 12 years ago by Peter Matthijssen. His parents had a cattle farm, but Peter thought carrots would have more possibilities. He had been active with various carrot companies for years, and wanted to start his own business. He started with a few hectares in the Noordoostpolder, and by now he has an area of 220 hectares. “Part of that is own cultivation, and part is grown by others under guidance,” he says. Four years ago, Peter started Top Fresh with Ronald Gielleit, which trades both conventional and organic carrots. “We now have control over the complete supply chain,” Peter says.

Top Fresh has completely specialised in growing and processing ready-to-eat carrots for the national and international markets. The carrots are mostly of the brand Imperator. This variety is very suitable for the snack segment according to Peter, due to its somewhat darker colour, the long, smooth and slim shape, the better shelf life and the slightly sweeter flavour. “This yields many snacks of uniform quality per carrot. The Imperator carrots are own production in the Netherlands, but are also imported form Portugal, Spain and France outside of the season.” The new season starts in July with the harvest from Brabant and Limburg. The harvest from the Polder follows, and these carrots are processed directly from the field. In October and November, large volumes are harvested. These are mostly placed in storage unwashed. From January until June, this storage is used. Carrots are imported in June and July, when the new carrot season is approaching.

By-product becoming conventional
The washed and sliced carrots are mostly delivered to major cutting plants for further processing. The smaller sizes are primarily used for snack products, while the larger sizes are processed into salads, soups and hotchpotch by the cutting plants. Top Fresh’s snack carrot can be found in nearly every Dutch supermarket. “Our products can also be found across the border. Especially our neighbouring countries are important markets, but the UK and Eastern Europe are also buying a lot, for example,” Peter says. Customers can have the carrots washed, scraped, sliced and packed by Top Fresh, if desired. There are various packing possibilities, from small 150-gramme packs to 10-kilogram bags, crates and bulk. “We personally process the carrots into snack and ball carrots. The balls were actually born from necessity. We had many byproduct for which we needed a destination. That became such a large product, we now even grow carrots especially for that.”

According to Peter, plenty of growth is still possible in the field of snack carrots. Not just the growth in existing and the development of new markets offers opportunities to the company, but also in the field of product range. “When you look at what is offered as regards carrot products in the US, I definitely still see opportunities. The versions of carrots combined with other products, for example, are very diverse. Of course, it is also positive for us that consumers are increasingly concerned with eating healthy.” Besides carrots, the company also grows and processes coloured carrots, parsley root, parsnip and red beetroots in the conventional segment.

Organic supply increasing
Top Fresh primarily supplies unwashed carrots, directly form the field if necessary. The majority of this is meant for export to processors abroad. “We can also wash and sort the carrots to size, if desired,” Ronald mentions. These carrots are all of the Nerac variety, and come from both the Netherlands and from European production countries such as the UK, Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy and Israel. “We supply both conventional and organic carrots year-round. Germany is an important sales market for us for both conventional and organic carrots. Nearly 90 per cent of all of our organic carrot is sent to Germany. We actually buy and sell throughout Europe. We also export some to Africa. Perhaps we can supply distant destinations more often in future.”

When I visit Peter and Ronald, the market for Dutch carrots is quite calm. The large productions in Europe don’t do demand any good. “The Netherlands is practically solely dependent on other countries. The market started a bit later this season. We shall have to wait until stocks and qualities elsewher start becoming poorer,” Peter explains. His colleague Ronald says organic carrots are doing slightly better than the conventional ones. The trade company grew particularly in the organic segment in recent years. Many cultivators, both in the Netherlands and abroad, are switching to growing organic carrots. “This worries us. We’ll have to wait and see if sales can keep up with fast-growing supply. Right now, we haven’t really noticed it much on the sales-side of things.”

Ready for the future with new building
Last year, a completely new company building was brought into use in Kraggenburg. Activities were divided over three locations for a long time. Because the companies were growing out of their clothes, and the various locations were no longer meeting current requirements, they searched for a new company building. A new building of about 4,950 square metre was realised at the former Greenery site, with cooling cells, processing rooms, storage rooms and offices. In April 2016, Top Fresh moved to the new building, and in June that year, those interested could visit the new building during the open day. Peter: “The new building, the cooling and production rooms and the machines have all been made according to the latest techniques, and meet all requirements and regulations. In addition, we have room to grow even more, and it was a big step forward as regards logistics. We are ready for the future.”