The
successful family business, established in 1962, is already East Yorkshire’s
biggest grower and fifth largest in the UK,
supplying over one hundred million
tomatoes a year to supermarkets Cooperative, Waitrose, Morrisons and Lidl.
The latest
build project, which will add eight more acres of glasshouses to its current
24-acre capacity at its Mill nurseries site, has been fuelled by increased
Cooperative orders and is commencing this month, with completion planned
for this November.
Now
employing over 100 people, Hermanus de Lang, who runs the family business with
his two brothers and sister, said their continued growth has been fuelled by a
commitment to constant innovation, quality and a desire to use the latest,
sustainable growing methods.
Hermanus
said: “From adopting Rockwool as our growing medium in the 1980s to introducing
sustainable CHP (combined
heat and power) generators
and straw-fired boilers to heat our greenhouses, and employing organic pest
control methods, we have striven hard to stay ahead in a highly competitive
industry, while ensuring our products are of the highest possible quality. The increase in
Cooperative orders is
testament to that.”
Growing is a
competitive game in a world where food production is having to keep pace with
an ever-increasing population, and Mill Nurseries have had to strive to stay
one step ahead throughout their half a century-plus in operation.
Hermanus’
father Gerrit set up Mill Nurseries on a smaller plot across the
road from where it is now, after migrating to the UK from Holland in
the 1950s. He started off growing lettuces, chrysanthemums and
tomatoes in the soil.
“Ironically,
given that’s where our dad hailed from, we keep a close eye on what’s coming
out of Holland, which is seen very much as the centre of horticulture around the
world,” added Hermanus.
“That’s
where a lot of the latest innovations in growing stem from, including
environmental control sensors to maximise the potential of every plant.
“Dad was
a first-generation grower but spotted an opportunity to do in the UK what had
been done in Holland for many years. He arrived in the UK with
nothing in his pockets, no possessions or even a suitcase and not even able to
speak the language.
“He started
to build the business through sheer grit and determination, and just not being
prepared to take ‘no’ for an answer. We’re
extremely proud of what he achieved.”
Other
innovations Hermanus and his brothers are leading on in their father’s memory
include sustainable growing methods, including adopting hundreds
of endangered bumble
bees to pollinate the thousands of tomato plants which
stretch as far as the eye can see within their vast glasshouses.
Pest control
is also done organically. “Tomatoes, like other crops, can be prey to a variety
of pests, like whiteflies and leaf miner.
An entomologist visits us every
week during our eight-month long harvesting period to advise and provide insects
like spiders to help target the pests where needs be,” said Hermanus.
And they
also take their energy from sustainable sources.
“The
glasshouse industry uses a lot of energy,” explained Hermanus, “especially for
growing plants like tomatoes which have their origins in tropical climates like
South America and need lots of heat. We need to keep our greenhouses at a
steady 19 or 20-degree temperature and this was what led to us investing £3.5
million in state-of-the-art new CHP units to replace our
old, less efficient ones, three years ago."
Hermanus
explains that CHP systems are basically large, gas-fired
engines which generate electricity and hot water to heat the glasshouses,
exporting what isn’t used to the National Grid.
Not only
that, but the flue gases they generate,
which would otherwise go off into the atmosphere adding to CO2 emissions, are
diverted back into the greenhouses to again help their plants thrive.
The CHP
units provide around 50 per cent of Mill Nurseries’ heating needs, and
they take their other 50 per cent from a straw-fired boiler which they
installed around six years ago. This uses waste straw from the local farmers
wheat crops to create a completely renewable form of energy for their
greenhouses.
Their water,
too, comes from sustainable sources. “We collect all of our rainwater run-offs
from the roofs of our greenhouses, and this all goes into a 12 million-gallon
reservoir we built on site, which makes us around three-quarters
self-sufficient for our water,” said Hermanus.
Not only this, but in the early 2000s, Mill Nurseries were the first UK growers to install fully automatic thermal screen covers inside their greenhouses, designed to reduce their heat input requirements by 25 per cent during the winter months with the added benefit of creating a better growing environment from the shading effect in the summer.
The sheets
of glass in the roofs of the new greenhouses will be significantly bigger,
further minimising any light obstruction and shadow from the aluminium bars
used to contain them, for optimum growing efficiency.
Hull-based
electrical specialist Pearson Electrical will be supporting Mill Nurseries with
the greenhouse install. The company has worked as Mill Nurseries’ electrical
installation partner for the past 20 years, wiring and installing all of their
new kit, including the new biomass boiler
and CHP units, and taking care of the company’s periodic testing and
certifications, as well as reactive maintenance.
“While we
have the ability to manually control our systems, they spend most of their
lives on auto,” explained Hermanus.
“Everything
has to be fully optimised, well planned and fail-safe because the slightest
glitch can result in thousands of plants being potentially ruined. Mark Pearson and his
team have shared our journey so far with us. I’ve always found him and his
Pearson Electrical company to be very supportive of our needs and very
responsive whenever we have a breakdown, providing a level of capability and
service we can trust.
“They offer
a depth of knowledge and expertise which is head and shoulders above other
electrical companies, giving us utter confidence every step of the way.”
For
further information or to arrange interviews, contact Tracy Fletcher of By
Tracy Fletcher Limited PR via tracy@bytracyfletcherlimited.com or 07983
633385.
PHOTO: Hermanus de Lang
Notes for
editors
Mill
nurseries dates back to 1962, when it was set up by Gerrit de Lang, a working
class Dutch fellow who had come
across to the UK with hardly a
penny to his name but a heap load of vision inspired by his country’s
reputation for plant growing of all kinds.
He grew it
year on year to the point where his three sons Hermanus, David and Robert
joined him in the 1980s, now continuing to run it with their sister Jayne.
Originally
based on a small site on the other side of the picturesque East Yorkshire
village, Gerrit spotted an opportunity to acquire the bigger plot of land
across the way in the late-1960s.