The Greenery ready for its next phase – Strategy 2030 and a sixth consecutive profit share

The Greenery presented its financial results for 2025 and launched its growth strategy for the next five years at the General Meeting of Members on 6 May. The meeting also confirmed the reappointment of Niels Zuurbier as Chair of the Supervisory Board and announced the extension of CEO David Markowski’s contract.

A solid foundation, a sixth consecutive profit distribution

2025 was a deliberate year of transition. The Greenery invested significantly in upgrading its ICT infrastructure, consolidated all logistics at a single site in Barendrecht and discontinued activities that no longer contribute to its core mission: maximising value for growers. These decisions resulted in revenue of €675 million and an anticipated operating loss of €4 million. Adjusted for one-off restructuring and transition costs, the operating result was approximately €0.3 million, in line with 2024.

CEO David Markowski: “We deliberately chose focus over volume. By discontinuing activities that do not help us market our growers’ produce as effectively as possible, our revenue may have changed, but its quality has improved significantly. The result is a financially healthy organisation with a strong proposition for growers and customers, control over costs and room for further growth. The fact that we are distributing profits to our members for the sixth consecutive year — and at the highest level since our foundation — shows that this approach works.”

The net result for 2025 was more than €17 million. This year’s profit distribution to members amounts to almost €6 million and will be supplemented by a loyalty payment later in the year.

Strategy 2030: growers at the heart, growth as the means

After five years of building a sound foundation, The Greenery is taking the next step. Its 2030 growth strategy has one starting point: putting growers at the heart of everything The Greenery does. Growth is not an end in itself, but a means of strengthening that position — with customers, in the market and for growers themselves. Sufficient scale is also a strategic necessity to remain relevant to customers and, in turn, to growers in the years ahead.

The ambition is clear: substantial growth in members’ own production, achieved through a combination of expansion by existing members and the recruitment of new growers. This increase in scale will enable The Greenery to reduce the net sales contribution for members to 1% by 2030: greater certainty of sales and better service at structurally lower costs.

The strategy rests on five pillars: strengthening the brand, organisational development, growth in existing production, growth in new production, and partnerships. The existing grower proposition will be made even more attractive, including through the introduction of instruments that stimulate growth. For example, The Greenery is supporting its members with a new investment fund for expanding growing acreage, launching in the second quarter of 2026. Through this fund, the cooperative will provide loans and equity investments to growers who want to expand. At the same time, The Greenery is deepening its collaboration with strategic customers and building its international reach through FreshAlliance — the recognised producer organisation it established together with Belgium’s BelOrta. All these initiatives share the same goal: to offer growers a strong, reliable and attractive sales partner.

Strong leadership for an ambitious direction

The General Meeting of Members unanimously approved the reappointment of Niels Zuurbier as Chair of the Supervisory Board for a further four-year term. Maartje de Boer joins as a grower-member representative on the Supervisory Board, succeeding Nancy Peeters, who stepped down after nine years. De Boer is an entrepreneur in field-grown crops and has a background in finance at Rabobank and Deloitte.

On his reappointment, Zuurbier announced that CEO David Markowski had extended his contract ahead of its expiry. “Putting growers at the heart of our business is the anchor for everything we do and the foundation of our strategy. The strategy we have set out calls for strong leadership: someone who believes in the vision, has the courage to set a clear direction and can turn plans into reality. With David on board, we are choosing a leader who not only stays the course but also brings the organisation and our members with him on this journey. His commitment and conviction give us confidence that we will deliver on this ambition consistently and successfully in the years ahead.”

The Greenery turns thirty at the end of October. The cooperative will celebrate this anniversary in autumn 2026, also marking the start of a new phase of growth, with growers at its heart.