Perry Falter of Ecoville recently travelled to Japan for the second time in a year. Thus, the owner of the wholesaler in organic fruit, vegetables and fresh herbs, got a good idea of the differences between the Dutch and Japanese fresh produce sector. The visits to Japan are a real eye opener for the trader: “We can learn a great deal from each other. The Japanese growers look at the masses in the Dutch fresh produce sector in admiration. I am very impressed with the way they work, how they cherish their land. I firmly believe they should keep doing that, because it benefits the product. The Japanese are prepared to pay a good price for a good product. The products are worth it too. In Japan, they respect the fact that good vegetables come at a price.”
Growing for the whole world
Perry noticed how the Japanese fresh produce sector is largely self-sufficient, in a good way. “They pretty much only sell domestic produce there. We can really learn a great deal from those people. It’s not about mass there. That’s why I try to convince them that they have something good on their hands. For the quality of products as such, the Netherlands should stop wanting to grow for the rest of the world. I think it would be good to sit down for a good talk with growers here, about the direction they actually want to go in with their company. As a grower, you shouldn’t neglect the value of your product. This still happens far too often now.”
Organic
Perry indicates that organic isn’t that big in Japan yet. “In the Netherlands, organic is hot because we as companies want to offer a healthy alternative. On the other hand, if we didn’t tinker with food so much, demand for organic wouldn’t be as high.” He says the Japanese are very conscious eaters. “They eat a lot of fruit and vegetables. More than half of what a Japanese person eats, is fruit and veg, but this doesn’t necessarily have to be organic. Demand for organic does exist, but there is little need for quality labels in Japan. The people just know that the product is grown with care and deliberation. Products don’t need a quality label, because in Japan they know exactly where every product comes from. The law for conventional products requires the producer to indicate on the packaging what’s bad about the product. As a producer in Japan, you really don’t stand a chance with a bad product. In our country, we put the product information on the packaging in such a way that it’s difficult to decipher.
The Japanese are very structured. “I have been to the biggest fresh produce distribution centre in Tokyo. In the storage, nearly 400,000 square metres, only vegetables for Greater Tokyo are distributed, which has twice as many inhabitants as the Netherlands.” During his travels, Perry saw a lot of special fruit and veg products. “It’s not in line with the organic idea to import these products all the way from Japan. That’s why I want to find out if I can grow something from there over here.”
