DUTCH QUINOA GROUP SETTING UP A LOCAL VALUE CHAIN FROM SCRATCH...
Farmers in South-America have been growing quinoa for thousands of years. In the Netherlands the crop is cultivated on a commercial scale only since April 2014. Since it is such a new crop, Dutch Quinoa Group could set up a local value chain from scratch. Therefore, it is sustainable in every sense. Rens Kuijten has been interested in quinoa for a long time. After several years of research Kuijten and his business partner founded Dutch Quinoa Group in 2014. Now he is one of the directors of the company. Dutch Quinoa Group, a Foodvalley Member, supplies quinoa as an ingredient to the food industry, and quinoa products to retail and catering industry. “In April 2014, the first farmers in the Netherlands sowed quinoa,” Kuijten remembers. “We wanted to gain experience in growing and process the crop successfully. One of our main concerns was security of supply. That is why we dedicated the first two years to resolving technical issues, and organizing the value chain; from grower and ...