For some specialities, one greenhouse bay is enough. Others need five. That simple difference says a great deal about what flexibility means in practice and about the kind of partnership needed to keep developing over time.
A chef places the final touch of cresses, edible flowers or leaves on a dish. It is an image far removed from greenhouse construction, yet the two are closely connected.
Before a product reaches the plate, there is a much longer journey. Cultivation, handling and distribution all depend on the environment in which the product begins.
For Koppert Cress, that environment also has to accommodate very different requirements. CEO Stijn Baan puts the challenge in practical terms: “For some microgreens one bay is enough, and for others we need five bays.”
That is where the KUBO and Koppert Cress story becomes particularly relevant to other growers. The question is not simply what can be built. It is what the greenhouse needs to make possible for the people, crops and ambitions inside it.
Koppert Cress works with specialities that do not all require the same amount of greenhouse space. One may need a relatively limited area. Another needs considerably more. That means the greenhouse environment has to support different ways of using the available space.
As Stijn explains: “So we have to be flexible with the spaces we use for that. And we definitely challenged KUBO on that.” Flexibility in this context is not an abstract idea. It comes directly from the way Koppert Cress works. And that makes the starting point clear: understand the operation first.
What is being grown? How do different microgreens use the available space? Which ideas need to come together? And how can the greenhouse continue to support the company as it develops?
For every grower, the answers will be different. But the underlying question remains the same: What does the greenhouse need to make possible?
The practical requirements are one part of the Koppert Cress story. The relationship behind them is another. When Koppert Cress starts thinking about another greenhouse project, KUBO is the first partner that comes to mind.
“They’re the first ones we think of when we’re planning to build again. The first ones we call.”
For Stijn, an important reason is KUBO’s long-term perspective. “What makes KUBO truly unique is that they have a long-term vision.” That perspective changes the nature of the relationship. The focus is not solely on the project currently being built, but also on maintaining a partnership that remains valuable afterwards.
“It’s not about doing that one project. It’s about making sure we can always find each other for the projects ahead.” That says a great deal about trust.
Greenhouse projects bring many different requirements together.
Cultivation, space, people, technology and future plans all have to work within one environment. Stijn describes KUBO’s role in that process in a simple way: “KUBO makes it possible to create synergy between all the different ideas out there.” He follows it with a phrase that captures the greenhouse itself: “It’s the structure where everything comes together.” That idea is central to the partnership.
Koppert Cress brings its ambitions, its specialities and its operational needs. KUBO helps translate those different ideas into one greenhouse environment.
And because those needs continue to develop, the conversation does not stop when one project is completed.
For Stijn, long-term collaboration is not about repeating what has already been done.
Koppert Cress and KUBO also challenge one another to keep moving forward. “Beyond what we build together, we try to move the whole sector forward. That’s something we challenge each other on too.”
He sees a strong connection between the ambitions of both companies. “The frontrunner role they have and that we aspire to, that works really well together. So you have to move forward together.”
That shared ambition also shapes the way Koppert Cress looks at each new greenhouse. “Every time we want to build a new greenhouse, we want the latest technology in it too.”
For Stijn, the current greenhouse represents another step in that development. “So we’ve pushed the boundaries even further here.”
The point is not simply to build again. It is to use each new project as an opportunity to continue developing.
The influence of the greenhouse extends beyond the growing environment itself. Koppert Cress supplies its products across a broad international market. "We can supply all of Europe with our products. The Middle East, Southeast Asia.”
It moves from crops in the greenhouse to product handling and logistics, and ultimately to a chef using cress on the plate. It is a simple but important connection.
The greenhouse stands in one place. The products it supports travel much further. What begins as a growing environment becomes part of a broader chain, from cultivation and handling to distribution and culinary application.
That is where the idea From greenhouse to experience becomes tangible.
Technology and greenhouse construction may sit at the beginning of the story, but their relevance continues further down the chain.
Stijn looks back with pride at what has been achieved, but immediately turns his attention towards the future. “I’m incredibly proud of that, and I can’t wait for the next build.”
That sentence brings the different parts of the story together.
The practical need for flexible space.
The ambition to keep developing.
A partner that is involved not only in one project, but in the projects ahead.
And a customer that already wants to continue the journey.
For KUBO and Koppert Cress, the greenhouse is therefore more than the outcome of a construction project.
It is the structure where different requirements, ideas and ambitions come together and where the next conversation can begin.