Frans van Dorsser

“Growing Happiness”

 

Shipherd Nurseries is family owned and operated; established by Jaap and Annet van Dorsser in 1987. Their son Frans joined the business in 2006 allowing for further growth.

Frans was born in Espel, Holland in 1978. In 1987 Frans and his family immigrated to New Zealand, to a small-town called Waiau Pa, South of Auckland.  After a short time Jaap and Annet purchased a property not far away in the Pukekohe district.  This is where the flower growing business began.  Thirty years later there is two hectors of modern greenhouses in seven separate growing areas.

During his early years, Frans attended Aka Aka primary school before attending Pukekohe High School.  After school he decided to do a degree in applied science focusing on wine making at Massey University.  He completed his studies in Fresno, California.  Before entering the family business, he applied his trade in France (Burgundy and the South of France) and Cyprus as a ‘flying wine maker.  Essentially employed to blend different types of grapes into wine that had been asked for by either wholesale markets or supermarkets.  This came about as the new world wines at the time from South Africa, NZ, Australia and the US were fast becoming known for their quality.  The wines from the ‘old world’ were not, so there was a need to bring these growers up to the ‘new world’ high standards and quality. 

 

Red roses are a favourite.  These are some of the amazing roses grown at Shepherd Nurseries.

 

 

Frans decided to return to New Zealand and in discussions with his family decided it was time to enter into the family business.  Frans is now the head grower or as he puts it, the guy that oversees everything.  Over the years different types of flowers have been grown but the two main flowers are now roses and gerberas.  There are 40 different types of roses grown and 15 of gerberas. Keeping up with the market and trends is something the family keeps a very close eye on, visiting Holland is a great way to keep in touch with new and exciting varieties. It is approximately a five-year process from planting roses to when they are replaced so the decision to grow new types of roses is very important. 

The flowers are sold via the UFG (United Flower Growers) auctions.  In general, this year has been ok.  The intense heat we have had this summer did mean that his red roses did bud earlier than anticipated, before valentine’s day, which is the biggest time of the year for Shipherd Nurseries. However, February ended up being a record production month but the plants have now become slightly vegetative.  Frans is hoping the cooler nights will continue to initiate more bud growth. 

 

Now the nights are cooling the buds are starting to reform.  Day/night temperature differential is important to create the stress needed to get the plant in ‘flowering mode’

 

Shipherd nurseries uses technology, from the environmental computer to the greenhouse’s structure and the internal fit out, including screens and air circulation fans to mention a few.   This summer to keep themselves really busy the old boiler has been replaced in time for the upcoming cooler months.  Controlling the environment is just as important for flower growers as it is vegetable growers.  Botrytis is a continual issue, close monitoring and adjustments constantly need to be made to reduce the incidence.

 

Screens are installed to protect from the suns intensity and maintain night time temperature levels in the cooler months.

 

A double rowed internal hanging gutter system is used with a grow pipe and pressure compensated drippers for irrigation.  Stonewool is the preferred growing media.

 

Shipherd Nurseries employ 12 full time staff and casual workers.  Like many growers Frans is describing the shortage of workers available as a major concern.  With the minimum wage set to increase Frans is looking for more efficient ways to conduct his business.  He feels that when the introduction of $20/hour for the minimum wage comes into effect he will potentially have to let 3 workers go!  Frans also believes that compliance is becoming very difficult and there are too many “grey areas”.

 

Having good, honest reliable staff are one of the keys to success.

Picking the Gerberas directly into the containers ready for packing.

 

Frans is concerned with the lack of growers in the flower industry, he thinks that losing growers will have a negative impact, because no one is growing flowers it could mean we have to start importing flowers!  Potentially these countries will not have to follow strict growing guidelines like NZ growers adhere to.  He would like to have more tools to help against the increased pest pressure.  Now that chemical usage is being reduced more needs to be done to introduce new insect predator species.

 

Frans is positive about the future of growing flowers but emphasises the need for more professional growers to enter the industry.  He feels there is a good long-term future for growing flowers in New Zealand.  Even though there are issues facing his family business, Frans relishes the challenges and especially enjoys dealing with other people.  When I asked what he likes the most about his business he answered, “Growing Happiness”, he gets satisfaction out of watching the reaction from people when they receive flowers, this definitely helps motivate him.  When he is not overseeing the flower growing operation Frans enjoys his family time with his wife and three sons.  He also enjoys brewing is own beer.

Shipherd Nurseries have a simple goal to produce high quality product, using the latest most effective growing techniques with years of experience and valuable Dutch growing skills to draw from. 

 

A beautiful pink gerbera, just one of many different varieties that are grown at Shepherd Nurseries.

The automatic grading machine uses imagery to grade out the roses from their bud size to the length and thickness of the stem and then bunches them together ready for distribution.

 

A short clip of how efficient the rose grading machine is

 

Stonewool cubes are imported from Holland in a specific shape and size for growing the Gerberas.

 

Recently celebrating his 40th birthday, Frans has a long and colourful future ahead in the growing industry

 

 

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Article written by Stefan Vogrincic, Consultant, Grower2Grower

“Innovation is now an imperative”

By Charlotte Connoley
  

Looking to the future I can’t help but feel optimistic having chosen a career path within the “food” industry. It seems hard to imagine horticulture will become redundant given the survival of the human race depends on obtaining energy in some form. I have no doubt much will change in regards to how we obtain this energy in the next 20 years, but unlike other products and services it is unlikely to become redundant altogether. 

On receiving our telephone book this year, I must say I was incredibly surprised that an edition was still printed given the use of online tools for acquiring this type of information these days. For millennials not only is the phone book a rather foreign concept but so too phone boxes, CD’s, DVD’s, video stores, landlines… the list goes on. 
A recent for sale ad for a Video Ezi shop made me think who would be brave enough to buy this business given the proliferation of Netflix, Lightbox and Apple TV? And I even understand SKY TV is losing subscribers as a result of these. 

Our mail is only delivered every second day now as the written or printed word has become less and less and even my husband who works in logistics pointed out that they see their competition as being 3D printers! Why import it when you could acquire the “template” online and print it here in NZ. 
With well-known fashion stores such as Pumpkin Patch and Kimberely’s closing their doors and the advent of Amazon across the Tasman we all have to consider the mortality of our businesses and if in fact we wish for a different outcome how we may achieve that into the future. 

Innovation is now an imperative for businesses to survive in our fast-paced world. You may have heard the saying “If you don’t change in time, you will be exchanged in time”. Innovation is not just about product or process improvement, but about how the whole company can prepare for the future. As a business we try to consider this with innovation around finance, warehousing, research and development and a range of other parts of our business. 

So, as we look to another New Year I wish you all a safe and happy holiday and a prosperous year ahead… and let’s see if we all receive a telephone book in 2018! 

 

Charlotte Connoley
Managing Director at South Pacific Seeds charlotte@spsnz.com 

 

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Raj Sharma, 4.2 Million Cucumbers and Growing

Raj was born in the district of Kittna, Hoshiarpur, Punjab India. He grew up with his three brothers and one sister on a farm where his father grew wheat, corn and rice, before owning a convenience store. Raj’s sister currently lives here in New Zealand and his three brothers live in Canada.  Raj visits his brothers every two years.

Raj attended primary school in Kittna and secondary school in Fateh Pur Khurd, then he went on to attend S.G.G.S. Khalsa College,  Mahilpur, where he graduated. He did his post-graduation in Political Science from D.A.V. College Hoshiarpur. Raj decided to move to New Zealand in 1989, the motivation was the prospect of a better future.  He came alone and stayed with a friend in Papakura.  During the early years he doubted his decision to immigrate to New Zealand, but now knows it was the best decision he ever made.

From 1989 until 1992 Raj worked in the kiwifruit orchards in Te Puke, before returning north to work in the market gardens of Pukekohe from 1992 until 1994.  In 1994 he started his journey into growing cucumbers in greenhouses.  Simply by door knocking with his friend, Raj was employed in 1994 by a grower in Drury.  The property changed hands three times, while Raj worked there for two years.  He then began working for Rosemary Bartle who grew telegraph cucumbers in 2400m2 of greenhouse in Hingaia (Karaka District).  Raj credits Rosemary for teaching him how to grow.  Raj worked there until returning to India in 1998. A year later, in 1999, Sharma returned to New Zealand with his wife. 

This year was the pivotal year for Raj.  He began working for the late Ian Cheeseman growing telegraph cucumbers.  Ian saw the huge potential in Raj, he encouraged him to start his own business, growing telegraph cucumbers, as well as continuing to work for Ian.  In 2001 Raj leased his first property on Maxted Road in Drury.  It was a 2000m2 greenhouse.  Over the years  Raj continued working for Ian but kept adding to the properties he leased.  By 2008 Sharma had leased 5 properties with a covered growing area totalling over 1.5 ha.  Raj and Ian kept working together, between them they were packing cucumbers at Ian’s home property in Maxted Road.  Unfortunately, in 2010, Raj’s great friend, boss and business partner Ian passed away after a battle with cancer.   Raj leased Ian’s property from Mrs Cheeseman, grew and kept packing on the Cheeseman property until recently.  The old greenhouses were taken down on the Cheeseman property in 2016.  I’d just like to point out that Raj did not have to stay and keep growing at that property.  It was the oldest and probably the least productive of all of the greenhouses he had, but such was his loyalty and true respect for Ian and his wife he continued to grow there.

 

Raj Sharma in his recently built greenhouse that has diffused glass and hanging gutters.  This crop’s in its last week and has gone through the hottest summer on record, it is in fantastic condition.

 

In 2011 Raj added another lease property to his portfolio, taking his total area to approximately 2 ha over 6 different properties.  This property was the property Raj purchased in 2013 and where he would build a state of the art 6-meter-high diffused coating glasshouse with hanging gutters.  Raj still leases 4 other properties, one of those properties is having a new 3000 m2 added to it.  He currently has just under 3 .5ha of growing area not including the new extension.

Raj has built a good relationship with Turners and Growers, who market a large proportion of his telegraph cucumbers.  He has improved year on year, and with new technology has increased and improved his growing skills.  He now grows an average of 120 cucumbers per m2/year, which equates to more than 4.2 million telegraph cucumbers per year!. His target cucumber length is 36 cm.  There is a four-month cycle between crops.  The techniques he uses to grow his cucumbers differ between properties.  This is very clever, as each property has different characteristics.

I asked Raj what the biggest difficulties were facing his business.  His answer was “labour”.  Raj now employs eighteen full time staff, with an additional four or five required in the summer months.  Getting staff that want to work in our industry is very hard, kiwis do not want to work in greenhouses so staff are 100% immigrants’.  Now that the government has tightened up on immigration Raj believes it is becoming even harder to find staff, it is a real threat to his business.  Raj also believes that compliance is becoming more difficult year on year.  There does not seem to be a line in the sand where everything is set, it just keeps becoming more difficult and unnecessary in some cases.   Paper work takes up a lot of time and can take focus away from the growing operation.  From a growing point Raj says root disease is a real problem, there are not many, if any products, that will 100% reduce the risk of infection or cure an infection.  Years ago, there were root treatment’s but they are no longer permitted.  He says Pythium and Fusarium are the biggest causes to loss of production.

On a brighter note I asked Raj to comment on what’s good about his business, without hesitation he said dealing directly with the supermarket is something he really likes, “It is an easy way of doing business, the price is always stable and they take large volumes”.  It has created a strong partnership which he hopes will continue.

Raj is quite happy to help other growers who grow cucumbers.  Raj’s point of view is that other growers are not his competitor and that’s why he is always keen to provide his support and suggestions if anyone asks him. He wants to share his knowledge and experience with his fellow growers.

Raj is positive about the short and long-term future of his business, he would like to see more young people entering the greenhouse industry.  Raj’s son is now seventeen, he is keen to come into the business with his Dad.  Raj is so positive about the future, he is already planning his next large glasshouse extension in two years.  He hopes that the labour issues he faces can be resolved. 

Raj likes reading books especially about New Zealand and Indian politics.  He likes watching a game of cricket and loves to read about his favourite hobby, growing! So, you could say he never stops growing. 

Raj’s story is inspirational, it shows courage and strength, to come to a foreign country, where English is a second language.  He is the perfect example of what you can achieve with sheer hard work, determination and a smart business mind.  Raj works 7 days a week as he always needs to check his crops, he is a tireless worker, working hard so his family will have a brighter future.  Raj is extremely intelligent all be it bashful.  He has slowly built his business from nothing to its current size.  He will continue to improve and add a new environmental computer to his property in the next 3 months.  He said, he sees himself in this industry for life and there is no talk of life after growing.

What I love about writing these articles is optimised by this interview.  Raj is such an inspiration to me.  His loyalty and dedication are two of Raj’s biggest attributes, which is something I pride myself on.

In over 20 plus years in our industry you just will not meet a nicer person to do business with than Raj Sharma.  One moto I adhere to is ‘It’s nice to be important but it is more important to be nice” Raj epitomises that moto.

 

 

 

Sharma grows in both glass and plastic houses.

 

Sharma is very happy with his new glasshouse that had diffused glass installed.

 

 

Waste oil is used for the main source of heating.

 

Sharma has recently built a large new pack house to cope with his increase in production.

 

This new rapping machine has increased output from 20 to 60 cucumbers per minute.  This was a rather large investment but will pay it self-back very quickly with the increased efficiency

Sharma with his staff who work at the Bombay property

 

Grower Profile, Jason Greene T&G Grower Manager 

 

T&G Global is full of passionate growers. Jason Greene, T&G Grower Manager for Covered Crops based in Tuakau New Zealand, about his role and passion for plants.

“My passion for growing comes from the respect I have for plants. It is incredible to watch how a tiny seed can grow to produce the amount of fruit that it does.” Jason Greene

Jason Greene’s passion for horticulture started at an early age when his school science teacher got him working with his hands and interested in growing his own produce.

After finishing school, Jason decided to further his interest in plants and growing and enrolled to study Applied Science at Massey University in 2004, majoring in Horticulture. He then moved to Auckland and started his first job in sales and marketing in the nursery and garden sector at Rainbow Park Nurseries.

Jason has since excelled in the horticulture industry and was named Young Horticulturist of the Year in 2008, winning a number of regional competitions before coming out on top at the national final. Another accomplishment under his belt is winning the Young Achiever- Nurseryman of the Year award in 2008.

In 2010 Jason started working at T&G as an assistant grower in one of the two glasshouses in Tuakau where his career in growing blossomed. Since then he has become grower manager, leading 42 staff members and managing 5.6 hectares of glasshouse which produces an impressive two million kilograms of specialty tomatoes, namely Angel, Red Delight and Y.E.L.O, per year.

“I love what I do, challenges and all. From the diversity of crops and having seven different varieties under the same glass, to watching how each variety reacts differently from changes in fertilisers, controlled environmental elements and glasshouse structure – no day is the same,” says Jason.

Although tomatoes are grown all year round in the glasshouses, crop strength increases in spring and ramps up in summer, which is the busiest season for Jason and his staff.

“Growing is a 24/7 job which comes with a lot of challenges to produce quality tomatoes. Having a great team, open relationships, trust in your colleagues, your equipment while owning and learning from mistakes, makes the job a lot easier.”

The future looks bright for Jason who says that the next step in his career would be becoming head grower and possibly moving into other sectors or even taking up a role in a different country.

“There are so many options for growers and once you have the necessary skills and experience, you can adapt to whichever category you choose to work with – the sky is the limit.”

 

 

Thanks to T&G Global for supplying this excellent article. 

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