Members of Hort Integra from Romania took part in a study tour to the Netherlands through the Erasmus+ programme, organized in partnership with HollandDoor.
The visit aimed to help participating horticultural cooperatives improve their organization and strengthen their market position. During the trip, we visited several Dutch cooperatives, growers and trading companies and attended guest lectures on cooperative management, marketing and branding. The aim was to better understand how collaboration, innovation, professional management and responding to market demands contribute to a strong agricultural sector.
A few key takeaways for the delegation:
- Successful cooperatives offer more than collective sales. They provide input purchasing, technical advisory services, quality control, packaging solutions and market intelligence. These services allow farmers to focus on production while improving quality and efficiency.
- Integration of the value chain increases competitiveness. Examples from the Netherlands showed how linking production, sorting, grading, packaging, branding and sales strengthens market position and improves negotiation power with retailers.
- Understanding the market and its segments in combination with branding and marketing are just as important as production. This approach gives cooperatives access both B2B and B2C markets.
- Openness and knowledge sharing between farmers and their cooperatives are crucial for building trust and developing robust organizations.
- Collaboration between cooperatives helps strengthen the sector and improves fairness in the food supply chain.
Participants also emphasized the importance of actively engaging with the Romanian government to lobby for improvements in the regulatory framework, ensuring that policies and legislation better support the development and competitiveness of agricultural cooperatives in Romania.
Based on this experience, the Romanian participants have identified concrete next steps at the organizational level, both in service provision and collaboration with market stakeholders.
We are grateful to all the organizations we visited for openly sharing their valuable knowledge and practical insights with us.
For more information, please contact Engelie Beenen
Joomla Extensions