Some 50 kilometres north of Poznan, not far from the village of Gościejewo and basically in the middle of nowhere, Holpol-Compost is located.

By Roel Dreve

Holpol is a modern composting unit serving the region with 6  tunnels and 3 for incubated compost. The existing company is licensed for extension with 13 extra tunnels (phase II and phase III) and extra bunkers for the construction of green compost. The building will probably start this year. The company has been set up by Loek and Paul van der Mark - in the Netherlands in the food sector operative with their own conserves factory Marque Champignons, a mushroom farm and an international trade organisation - and Tom Hol.
In Gościejewo, we had a pleasant interview with father Tom and his son, farm manager Sebastian, about the obstacles and opportunities in Poland.

When and why did they start business in Poland? Tom:” We had a good look round for a while, and considered countries such as Hungary, but one of the reasons we decided not to start up there was the lack of a good logistic infrastructure.”

Sebastian: ”In June 2001 we started here. The fact that Poland was set to join the EU didn’t play a role. We just saw the best opportunities here.” According to him it’s difficult to find the right labour in the Netherlands, plus the legalisation and bureaucratic red tape is discouraging. “In Poland, environmental legislation is more relaxed, in fact across the board there’s less legislation to contend with, and motivated labour is queuing up for work.”
At the set-up of Holpol however, expected stricter environmental legislation based on existing EU directives have been taken into account. So maintaining these will not be a problem.

Enjoying the views of the surrounding countryside from the balcony of the spacious apartment above the company, another important difference with the Netherlands is immediate: room to breathe. “We never have any trouble with complaints from the neighbours and our company employs many locals”, says Sebastian.

The biggest obstacle in starting the company was actually acquiring the land, a process that took a good two years. “If you want to buy 10 hectares here, like we have done, without wanting to cultivate it whole and without Polish shareholders (something we ultimately didn’t do), it is quite tricky to establish yourself as a foreign company in Poland. You need a good network of contacts, a lawyer and you have to know the right ‘channels’.”

There’s a certain degree of resistance concerning foreign companies in Poland, but once Holpol was established and people knew the company, obtaining planning permission to expand was an easy matter.

The language was and still is quite a barrier; the two men hardly speak a word of Polish. “My children have less problems with it” laughs Sebastian. However, the men employ three people who speak both Polish and German – the working language on their company.

Competitors

As a newcomer, Holpol had to prove itself in an existing status quo. How did they manage to acquire and keep buyers? Tom: “Growers here don’t work on a contract basis, so its easy for new suppliers to get a foot in the door. On the other hand, this makes it hard to build up a stable circle of customers.” Holpol supplies to a rather fixed customer circle of about 40 to 50 growers of the 249 growers whom the company has supplied with compost from the start.

Tom: “We can’t really complain, we are the only composters who started here as ‘outsiders’. During the first year they passed off all the inferior raw materials on us – the good quality straw went to the other composters. But after a sticky start we had a good run last year.” There is no really hard and furious competition according to him:” Every one knows their place.”

Sebastian:” There are about 22 to 25 compost companies in Poland, and that figure is increasing. According to the rumours some 100 tunnels are being constructed at this very moment.” Many composters are currently switching over to making phase III compost. “But as equally applies to growers, it’s only possible for many composters to survive if production is halted during the summer.”  Tom:” But with the huge sums of money involved today the situation is different. Its no longer financially possible to have a summer stop.”

Buyers

As well as many similarities, Hols also sees many differences between mushroom growers in Western Europe and Poland. Many Polish growers prefer to market their produce on the (West European) market, rather than supply, for example, Banken Poland. Tom: “They all want to be their own grower and trader. They think this is the way to earn more, while in fact more often than not they get cheated in this way.”

Hygiene standards lag far behind. “Incubated compost just gets thrown onto the floor then driven over by trucks going into the buildings - or they empty the compost without cooking out for instance. There’s not enough structure or planning, they tend to jump from one thing to another.”

Just like elsewhere, differences of opinion arise between customers and composters. There have been a few problems with green mould. The composters lay the blame on condensation between the packages. “Not all growers cook out, and if temperatures get too high they throw the doors wide open..”

But in Hol’s view there are plenty of growers on the right track. “The quality of mushrooms has risen enormously over the past three years, and there is more up scaling of companies.”

Sebastian:” Growers such as Górny (see the article about him – ed.) are doing quite well. They supply year-round and keep good hygiene standards. However, many smaller farms can’t cope with the wave of modernisation.”

Tom: ”In the summer it’s still customary for 60% of the growers to lay production still for about 8 to 10 weeks, then pick up again in mid-September.” Sebastian: ” Infection risks drop tremendously at that time, but otherwise many couldn’t survive.”

Confidence

As well as the switch to phase III, up sizing and increased professionalism, entry to the EU must surely play a role? Tom puts it into proportion: ”The open borders mainly have an effect on the waiting times there and – in our case – importing horse manure and straw. From May 1st we import horse manure from Berlin. Before then we couldn’t get a permit.”

They expect that in about three years time more Polish mushrooms will be exported to Russia, particularly to large urban regions. Tom also sees opportunities on the domestic market. “Just take the Polish mushroom tradition to start with; even the tiniest shops nearly all sell mushrooms.” And the infrastructure is set to improve- an aspect close to Tom’s heart in light of his frequent commuting between Poland and the Netherlands.

Both father and son see a sunny future ahead for Holpol, so don’t see the need to hire a stand at the mushroom fair in Sielinko. “Quality promotes itself” is Tom’s conviction. “Our main aim is to win confidence”, adds Sebastian. That’s what it boils down to.
Sebastian gets ready for another long journey to the West. He’s planning to move with his family to the livelier Poznan shortly as ‘this place is a bit too quiet for our liking’.

This company is listed in our links section >