How do you smartly build the future of your nursery?

Dec 21, 2023 8:43:00 AM

To ensure a healthy future for your nursery and business, it's crucial to have clear direction. In other words, put a dot on the horizon towards which you can work towards in a step-by-step manner. You can achieve this by drawing up a future-oriented plan, a master plan. A master plan can be of great benefit.

What is a master plan?

This plan "sums up," so to speak, the future development of your business. The plan gives you, as an entrepreneur, direction, guidance, and support for the future. It also offers many other advantages, including financial ones. Although the focus is on-site layout and water management, the plan includes as many aspects as possible that determine the development of a nursery. In other words, it is a business development plan for growth in stages, highlighting many components.

What aspects are covered?

The main components covered in a master plan are:

Type of cultivation surface
Plumbing/Piping
Electrical installation
Walking and driving distances
Layout of logistics lines and processes
Water system, storage, and sources
Fertilization and fertigation recipes
Crop protection
Future plans and developments

So you will be thinking about many things. The trick is always to look one step further than usual and to get "out of your comfort zone." It is also often a matter of logical thinking. "For example, you cannot just fill up your entire nursery right to the edge of your property," says Arjan Labruyère, Technical Sales Engineer at Erfgoed. "It's important also to understand how much water you need to bridge dry periods. And then to keep enough space free for a basin or silos, to be able to store enough water."

The exact design and content of a master plan varies from nursery to nursery. After all, this has to do with the location, the country where a grower operates, the cultivation, the climate conditions, the entrepreneur's ambitions, etc. In short, this is customization pur sang!

Machiel Paans agrees: "A master plan is a business development plan that fits like a tailored suit to the company and the entrepreneur."

What does a good master plan deliver?

Thinking about the future development of your company promptly, placing a dot on the horizon, and drawing up a solid plan for the future can yield a lot:

Efficient design of business and processes

You can organize your company and business processes as efficiently as possible. A good example: if you already know that you want to expand in a few years, you can already take this into account during the current new construction or renovation and, for example, adjust the piping accordingly, ensure that the basin and processing area are located in the right place, etc.

Cost savings

By thinking about the future of your business and making your choices now, you save costs. For example, you avoid having to modify the plumbing system in the future because it is inadequate. Or that the basin or water technical room must be moved in case of further expansion, investments must be made in additional pumping capacity, etc.

Preparing for a future-proof nursery

With a master plan, you work very specifically towards a future-proof nursery. Arjan Labruyère puts it as follows: "Because, when drawing up the master plan, you keep the end goal in mind, you can take a good first step," he states. "That is actually the core of what it is all about. As a grower, you think about the future and prepare for it. As a result, you work very specifically on a future-proof company and ensure that the business units are optimally attuned to each other. And there is planned and well-considered growth. That gives peace of mind, and that's worth a lot."