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Grower story: CoBaplant
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My name is Bart Jansen, owner of CoBaplant. When we opened our business in 2003, we started off by growing green plants. When we came up with our company name: CoBaplant, of course nobody knew what we stood for yet. We have been able to establish our brand, and I am very proud of that. That people know what CoBaplant stands for now. We’ve got 6 different types of plants. In addition to that,we grow 5 different heights of these plants. I am actually most proud of the quality that we are able to grow. Sustainability is also one of the things we highly value. I am very proud that we manage to achieve our goals. We take great care to ensure that everyone is having a good time, including all the people who work for us. To make sure that they enjoy working here. I am of course the owner and ultimately responsible for our production, but the people who work for me are the ones that actually determine whether CoBaplant can deliver quality plants or not. They are the ones that provide the labor. So you always have to make sure that they are having a good time and that things are going well there. This makes it easier for me to guarantee quality. We’ve been a customer of Kekkilä-BVB ever since 2003. That is mainly because of the quality substrate we get from them. But it also has to do with the relationship we have. Whenever there’s an issue, we get an immediate response. They don’t reply with: "Yes, there is a problem, but we'll get to it later.". No, if something is going on, they help us immediately. They come over and have a look, take samples, look at the substrate. If there are root problems, they go see if it's something that they can influence, or the issue is more on my side. I think that's the most important thing of all. It is really very important that your substrate is of the right quality. This enables you to also produce the plant quality you’re aiming for. In fact, together with Kekkilä-BVB we’ve taken many steps to make the substrate even more efficient for our company. Also with regard to rooting. At first, we had substrate with which our cultivation also went well, but there certainly was room for improvement. We also tackled that together. This actually means that the development of the plant goes even faster, is even more efficient and the cultivation time during propagation is somewhat shorter. All of this benefits the rest of the company. It has actually become a very good collaboration. If anything is going on, Kekkilä-BVB is there to help. They also provide a BVB College to growers. During this college you get more knowledge on different types of substrates. The bottlenecks are also clearly indicated there. Where the potential challenges lie, things we will encounter in the future. This helps everyone understand where they are at. They help us understand challenges and potential solutions. Together we have a look at the future. If there is a problem that is emerging, they look into ways to solve it together. And I think that's the most important thing about a relationship. They actively think along, look into a solution and help determine the best way to go. I think it's very important that you can walk that road together.