By planting trees, ornamental grasses and shrubs, we help combat climate change and make a positive contribution to biodiversity. With the current challenges in mind, we are putting our best foot forward.
Our certifications make our work on quality, plant health and more sustainable cultivation verifiable.
Huverba is MPS-ABC certified. This is not only an environmental certification for growers; it is also a monitoring tool that lets us track precisely how sustainably we produce.
This registration helps us further optimise our processes whenever needed. This is how we cultivate more sustainably every year.
You have probably come across On the way to PlanetProof before. This independent quality mark says it all: through the efforts we make to operate more sustainably, we are working together towards a greener world.
In every decision we make, we aim to place less burden on the earth and, in doing so, make our nurseries more sustainable.
Huverba is ISO 14001 certified. This standard helps us map the environmental impact of our operations and reduce it purposefully.
We use this environmental management system to make our processes and nurseries more sustainable step by step.
Because our planting material meets higher quality or health requirements, it has qualified for the Select Plant quality-plus system. The rules set out the requirements and conditions that participants in Naktuinbouw Select Plant must meet. These stricter requirements relate to the quality and health of the planting material.
Laboratory tests are often needed to establish that all criteria have been met. When certified material is assessed, particular attention is paid to varietal identity, varietal purity, origin, health (free of viruses, fungi, bacteria and nematodes) and quality.
Huverba is ISO 9001 certified. This standard helps us organise our quality management clearly and consistently meet the agreements within our processes.
We continuously review and improve the way we work, so customers and partners can rely on consistent quality: from planting material and administration to delivery.
Safety as the highest priority
Moving forward safely together! Our VCA certification shows that safety, health and the environment are firmly embedded in the way we work. We minimise risks, follow clear procedures and ensure a safe environment for everyone in the workplace.
Due to the increasing drought, regular watering at our nurseries is a must. To prevent waste, our nurseries have enormous water basins with a total capacity of four million liters. The cultivation floors consist of lava so that the (rain)water is recirculated. Much of our greenery is supplied with water through drip hoses, resulting in a metered release.
The roofs of our production warehouses are equipped with solar panels in 2022 to reduce our electricity use from the grid. This involves no fewer than 300 panels that can generate a capacity of 100,000 kW per year. In the long term, our internal logistics (such as forklift trucks and aerial work platforms) and pruning tools will operate fully electrically.
Biological control is a sustainable form of crop protection that is fully deployed at our nurseries. In particular, combating harmful insects with beneficial insects, such as combating aphids with parasitic wasps and ladybugs.
We also work at the nurseries with hoeing machines, among other things. These are efficient in mechanically removing weeds from between trees.
We have now drastically reduced the use of chemical pesticides and will phase them out completely in the future.
Our container plants grow in recycled pots and most of them are even in carbon-free ones. This means that they are made from recycled material. In many cases, the used, empty pots are collected from our customers and then recycled for reuse. We take such measures to reduce our carbon footprint.
The use of organic fertilizers (stable manure, compost) ensures a slowly released and improved soil life and even growth, meaning that fewer chemical growth corrections are required. This organic fertilizer is only delivered to the roots of the trees by means of a so-called row spreader. In this way we limit the use of fertilizer and reduce our CO2 emissions.
Seventy to one hundred percent of potting soil consists of peat. Peat acts as a buffer for water and fertilizers. But when peat/peat is dried, a lot of CO2 is released. That is why we grow our potted plants in peat-poor potting soil and many of them even in peat-free potting soil. Our aim is to grow our plants completely peat-free.
