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| July 2026 |
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Dear ,
As HollandDoor grows, so does our impact and service range. Yet our mission stays the same: enhancing food security through sustainable plant and animal production. While we continue offering our core services (study tours, capacity building, and business matchmaking), we’re expanding to meet evolving client needs with specialized services like market studies, pilot designs, and commercial viability testing.
To support this growth, we welcome two new team members: Gerdien Kleijer, Partner with expertise in sustainable livestock farming, and Yousef Shat, Affiliate Partner and senior consultant in agri-food and international business. Their full introductions will follow in an upcoming newsletter.
We’re excited to share our latest activities. Reach out to learn more!
Ad, Cedric, Engelie, Geerten, Jan Willem, Jos, Lisanne, Marian, Niek, René, Gerdien, Yousef
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Asian countries explore climate-smart agriculture practices
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Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) was the theme of a week-long visit to the Netherlands in June 2026 by members of the Asian Productivity Organization ( APO). For the second consecutive year, APO, based in Japan, selected HollandDoor to organise the programme for 20 participants from 14 Asian member countries.
Over the five-day itinerary, the participants met leading Dutch experts in both plant production and animal husbandry. APO’s Programme Officer, An Funakoshi, who accompanied the group, commented: “By visiting key facilities across the Dutch agricultural sector, including renowned research institutions, farms and agribusinesses, our 20 participants gained valuable insights into how the IoT, digital technologies and data-driven decision-making are enhancing agricultural productivity, optimizing resource management and reducing environmental impacts. The study mission also highlighted the vital role of public-private partnerships in strengthening value chains, boosting farmers' productivity and driving innovation, in line with the APO Vision 2030.”
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Bazian Valley Fresh: from market analysis to a market-driven
pilot
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After months of close collaboration with farmers, local partners and the Kurdistan Regional Government, a significant milestone has been reached in the HollandDoor-led vegetable value chain project in Sulaymaniyah Governorate. On 6 July, the Bazian Fresh brand was officially launched, marking the transition from a market analysis in 2024 to a market-driven pilot initiative delivering high-quality, locally produced vegetables to consumers. Rather than simply aiming to increase output, the project focused on strengthening the entire vegetable value chain. Farmers received intensive technical guidance, while equal emphasis was placed on grading, packaging, food safety, branding and connecting producers with the market.
The introduction of the Bazian Valley Fresh brand embodies this integrated approach – offering consumers vegetables that are not only visually appealing and professionally packaged, but also meet enhanced quality and food safety standards. In the coming months, we will be seeking to ensure the Bazian Valley Fresh concept becomes financially sustainable and can be scaled up beyond this pilot.
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Reflecting on the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture's visit
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Our HollandDoor team recently had the honour of hosting the Lebanese Minister of Agriculture, H.E. Dr. Nizar Hani, and his high-level delegation of Directors General and advisors on an intensive and productive study tour of the Netherlands.The core focus of this visit was the ‘Dutch Diamond’: exploring how government, knowledge institutions and the private agribusiness sector collaborate to drive innovation, climate resilience and food security. Over the course of this inspiring week, the delegation moved from strategic political meeting rooms to state-of-the-art laboratories and greenhouse complexes to witness the practical strength of the Dutch agrifood ecosystem.The delegation gained a broad understanding of how research flows into daily farming practice.
We look forward to seeing the connections forged this week grow into impactful collaborations between the Netherlands and Lebanon.
Curious about the next steps for modernising vocational agricultural education and cooperative structures in Lebanon? Read the full story on our website!
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Working on a Dairy Training Centre near Bangalore
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HollandDoor, together with DTC International (Oenkerk), has been involved in drafting the project plan for a Dairy Training Centre (DTC) near Bangalore, India, in close collaboration with the Dutch Embassy in Delhi and the Dutch Consulate in Bangalore. We expect a final decision to be reached on the implementation of this cutting-edge dairy facility featuring Indo-Dutch design by the end of this year. The new DTC will be a joint Indo-Dutch initiative demonstrating sustainable, profitable and inclusive dairy farming practices through advanced model farms and training units near Bangalore in India.
India is the world’s largest milk producer, yet productivity, profitability and quality remain suboptimal. DTC Bangalore seeks to address these challenges by demonstrating scalable farm models; sustainable soil-fodder-animal cycles; value addition through processing and diagnostics; and capacity building (including e-learning). Dutch companies will provide training in key dairy-related topics.Our vision is to foster a sustainable, inclusive and commercially viable dairy ecosystem led by Indo-Dutch collaboration.
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Dikili region in Turkey draws inspiration from the Dutch
greenhouse sector
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A delegation from the Dikili region in Turkey, representing the Dikili Agriculture-based Specialized Greenhouse Organized Industrial Zone (Dikili OTB), visited the Netherlands from 6 to 8 May 2026 for an intensive 2½ day study tour of the Dutch greenhouse sector. By visiting Dutch high-tech greenhouses, integrated agricultural production models and agricultural clusters, the delegation could see these systems in action for themselves. This was particularly relevant as Dikili OTB is designed not only as a production area but also as a model agricultural production hub that combines production, post-harvest, marketing and export components.
Dikili OTB offers significant opportunities for Dutch-Turkish collaboration: Dutch companies can contribute advanced automation, climate control and greenhouse technology, while knowledge institutions can provide essential technical expertise.
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Korean horticulture students complete 3 weeks intensive
training
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Following the success of the four previous editions between 2022 and 2025, Chonnam National University (CNU) in Gwangju, South Korea, once again asked HollandDoor to organise a specialist training programme in the Netherlands in 2026. This year, a group of 14 students from CNU visited the Netherlands in July. They were also joined by a group of six horticulture students from Gyeongsang National University.
The combined cohort of 20 students (7 male and 13 female) took part in a bespoke training course covering plant physiology, cultivation technology, cultivation planning, business and supply chain management, among other subjects. The students received a total of 7½ full days of lectures and visits to 28 organizations and companies.
Feedback from participants was extremely positive, with students praising both the content and the delivery of the training.
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Moldovan horticulture connects with the Netherlands at
GreenTech 2026
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During the GreenTech trade show in June 2026, a delegation from the Moldovan vegetable sector visited the Netherlands in search of technical solutions suited to the Moldovan context and to gain inspiration for improving collaboration within its vegetable sector.
HollandDoor co-organized a packed four-day programme for the delegates, including networking events and a visit to the GreenTech trade show in Amsterdam. The group also toured greenhouse operations, met with technical suppliers and visited the Veiling Zaltbommel auction, before concluding in the south of the Netherlands with a high-level business forum hosted by Moldova Invest.
This initiative forms part of HollandDoor’s broader commitment to advancing Moldova’s horticultural sector, working closely with the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature ( LVVN), the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Moldova and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency ( RVO).
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