“School is back in session!” Over the past few weeks, every time I drive out of my hometown, I come across this banner. School has started again for Forever Plants too. Our intern Dave has now been working with us for 4 weeks and gets to know a different part of our company every week. It is great to see the energy he brings, and lovely to see that he has already become a full part of our group.
Alongside Dave’s internship, a number of new projects are getting underway at Forever Plants right now. For instance, there is a group of students looking into the possibility of robotising parts of our sorting process. Deploying robotic arms would help enormously to make our employees’ work easier, lighter and a good deal more interesting. Hopefully they will achieve success quickly.
Forever Plants in Ukraine?
I myself, together with a group of 5 students, all third-year MBO level 4 students, am carrying out a project in which we will explore market opportunities. Over 20 weeks they will examine the possibility for us, as a green plant producer, to start supplying the Ukrainian market. In doing so they will focus on matters such as regulations, logistics and market opportunities.
I am curious to see what they will find when it comes to the regulations surrounding the export of plants to Ukraine. I am also curious about which sales channels they will come up with for us and how they think we can approach them.
Horticulture offers an incredible number of opportunities
This past Tuesday they were here to get acquainted. They are clearly excited about it. During the tour through the greenhouse I put the question to them: which of you is considering a career in horticulture after completing your studies. There was a deafening silence.
That immediately puts a finger on the sore spot and shows us where our challenge lies. As Forever Plants, we need to show young people that horticulture really can be an appealing career choice. Over the coming 20 weeks I will therefore try to take the students along with me through the challenges we see as a grower. To try to show them that we have an appealing job to offer these young people!
Working in horticulture: a dynamic environment
Developments around automation, working with big data and building brands are moving at lightning speed and are turning our conservative sector into a dynamic environment. Surely it must be hugely interesting and cool to be able to help make our living environment greener after your studies? With initiatives like Air So Pure and a flagship like Plantsome, we are right in the middle of the shift towards a dynamic sector. With full confidence I can say: we have a great deal to offer students and graduates!
