Press release - Honselersdijk, the Netherlands, February 10, 2011

Recently Ron Sportel of Sportel Greenhouses, David Westrate of Westrate Greenhouses and Dennis Wenke of Wenke Greenhouses spoke about their decisions to begin the MPS-ABC environmental certification program.

“We decided to begin the program because we found MPS to be a good fit for our business and not too cumbersome”, says Ron.  Dennis adds: “MPS gives us the opportunity to track our costs of inputs such as chemicals and give us benchmarks to compare to other growers, while being better stewards to the environment.”  Dave continues with: “As customers ask what we are doing to become better suppliers for them, we have information readily available through our quarterly MPS reports which document our performance and improvement in our use of energy, chemicals and fertilizers and demonstrate our environmental awareness.  For example, we recently began our recycling program for paper, cardboard and plastic and found it is not too difficult”.  Adds Dennis: “We were already recycling, but I was surprised how easy it was for my head grower to begin the MPS reporting.  It gives us better inventory records for our chemicals and fertilizers and helps us be more responsible with the use of them.”  Ron agrees, and adds, “The MPS program has helped my growers be even more accurate and accountable on their record keeping and use of all inputs.  This awareness is good for all of us, including our bottom line.”

This group of growers recognizes that the call for environmental action is strengthening in the USA, both nationally and locally.  Among retailers they recognize that the large national chains are currently more aware of understanding the environmental impact of the products they sell, and therefore this group of growers is improving their position by beginning the MPS-ABC certification process and learning how they can implement best practices for their business and the environment.  Concludes Dennis Wenke, “We believe the MPS program will be good for our retail customers and even better for us.”

In addition to these three Kalamazoo growers working on their MPS ABC certification, the Kalamazoo Flower Group has taken steps to obtain their MPS Florimark TraceCert certification for handlers / wholesalers of flowers and ornamentals. The Florimark TraceCert certificate is specially made for cooperatives / groups which ship flowers and ornamentals from their growers, and for the wholesale / handler chain. Florimark TraceCert focuses on quality control checkpoints and traceability of shipments in this part of the supply chain.  
MPS is proud to have quality growers such as Sportel Greenhouses, Wenke Greenhouses, Westrate Greenhouses and Kalamazoo Flower Group in their programs and welcomes grower and handler inquires in North America to their west coast coordinator, Charlotte Smit at (805) 524-9685 or c.smit@usa.my-mps.com, or to the east coast coordinator, Sandy Hering at (508) 758-3008, s.hering@usa.my-mps.com.

Note for the editor
For more information, please contact:

MPS
Mrs. A. Kodde, PR & Communications Dept.
Tel. +31 (0) 621 826 945
a.kodde@my-mps.com
www.my-mps.com