Rip Bromini B.V.

Rip Bromini is a horticultural company specialising in a wide range of mini-Bromeliads. The company J. Rip has passed from father to son for generations. Until the end of the 1950s, they grew vegetables under flat glass. At the beginning of 1960 a greenhouse was built and around 1970 J. Rip sr. started growing Bromeliads. At first mainly Aechmea`s were grown, later Guzmania`s and Vriesea`s were added. Around 1990 Jaap Rip Jr. joined the company and he started growing mini Bromeliads in 5,5cm pots, these were the first Brominias.

This made Jaap the first Bromelia grower in the world to grow in this pot size. These Bromini’s are a special addition to the existing Bromelia assortment. In 2018, the company will be 15,000 m2 in size.

Sustainability

A Bromelia is a long lasting plant that in house needs little care.

Because the plants are less susceptible to diseases and pests, they require almost no crop protection products. If it does turn out to be necessary to control a disease or pest, Rip Bromini uses biological agents. This means that other insects are used to control the harmful insects.

Energy

Since 2010, Rip Bromini has been connected to a geothermal heat network, Geo-Well; as a result of which all plants are produced Co2 neutrally.

Geothermal heat is used to heat the greenhouses if necessary. This means that no fossil energy is used. In the winter, the plants are extra lit by lamps. The electricity needed for the lamps is generated by an engine that runs on natural gas. When generating the necessary power, Co2 is released, which is used to make the plants grow faster and better. The plants absorb the Co2 and convert it into oxygen. The air is then purified and production becomes Co2 neutral.

At Rip Bromini, all waste is separated and recycled.

Rip Bromini is in possession of the environmental certificates MPS-A, Global-GAP and MPS-GRASP.

– MPS-A – indicates the level of sustainability of the company’s operations.

– Global-GAP – for companies that supply to retailers and concerns traceability, environment, safety and hygiene. MPS-GAP is the next step beyond MPS-A on the road to sustainability.

– GRASP ; is intended to assess social values in primary production.. It is aimed at ensuring good working conditions and being an employer.

People

Rip Bromini employs a team of 10 people. Many employees have been working here for years. In the peak period extra people from an employment agency are empoyed. Since Rip Bromini is certified, everything goes according to the prescribed guidelines of the Collective Labour Agreement for Greenhouse Horticulture. So every employee has an employment contract and therefore has income security enabling them to provide themselves with a proper place to live.

They also provide good protective work clothing and people work in a safe working environment. Temporary employees are treated in the same way as permanent employees.

Rip Bromini also regularly employs students.

Health

Did you know that flowers and plants have a healthy effect on people?

Plants provide air purification..
People breathe in air, take out oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. In the case of plants it is the other way around. During photosynthesis, plants remove carbon dioxide from the air and convert it back into oxygen. The amount of oxygen in the air is increased by the presence of plants, which makes breathing easier.
Air-purifying plants can absorb harmful substances from the air through their leaves. These harmful substances are then stored and broken down in the plant’s roots. These plants can also break down dirty odours, so they are actually natural air fresheners.
For the sake of clarity, every (indoor) plant produces oxygen, but not every plant also purifies the air. Air-purifying plants are e.g. the Spathiphyllum, Calathea, Hedera helix (ivy), Areca palm and the Ficus. For many plants we do not yet know to what extent they have an air purifying effect since they have not yet been tested.
Plants ensure a better concentration and a reduction of stress.
Plants create a relaxed and better atmosphere, also at work.. Plants make the workplace a more pleasant place to work.
Apparently there is even a relationship between the presence of plants and the productivity of employees.
Moreover, the presence of plants has a positive effect on the creativity and concentration of people.
Plants reduce the dryness of the air
The dust content and humidity in the house are strongly related with each other. The dryer the air, the more dust. This can cause symptoms such as a tickling cough, dry skin, headaches and irritated eyes. By watering plants, it finally evaporates again through the stomata in the leaves. Plants can thus increase the humidity of the air, which therefore benefits the air quality.
Plants provide a pleasant and warm feeling
Research has shown that plants are good for people in various (subtle) ways. They play an essential role in creating a pleasant, natural and quiet environment in which to move, work and/or relax.
Did you know that flowers too have a healthy effect on people?
Flowers can brighten up any room in a magical way. They give meaning to our emotions such as love, joy, comfort, compassion and sorrow. Flowers provide a relaxing effect on our constitution. They provide positive energy in the home and a warm feeling. In short, everyone is just very happy about that!

Care

Bromelia:

Innovation

The Dutch greenhouse horticulture sector is worldwide renowned for its innovative power. In order to be one step ahead of the competition from other parts of the world, people are constantly looking for better efficiency in the use of raw materials and space. This, of course, without compromising the (top) quality of the Dutch product.

The glasshouse horticulture sector in the Netherlands can cope with this rapid pace of innovation thanks to a strong relationship between research and practice. In addition, a great deal of knowledge is exchanged between the entrepreneurs in order to make progress together. The flower auctions are a good example of this as one of the largest cooperatives in the world.
Below we describe a few examples of this innovative power.

Biological control and integrated pest management
In order to minimise the use of pesticides and to find a better balance between parasites and their natural enemies, natural enemies of the parasites are used in the greenhouses. Thanks to the intensive exchange of knowledge between the growers and their suppliers, growers are increasingly able to produce a top quality product with organic solutions.

Combined heat and power (CHP)
Combined heat and power (CHP) is a large engine, originating from the shipping industry. Only it has been converted to run on natural gas. The efficiency of this motor is higher than traditional gas boilers. These engines drive a generator that generates electricity. This electricity is used in the company’s own nursery or is supplied back to the public electricity grid. The ‘residual heat’ produced by the engine is used to heat the greenhouses. After cleaning, the exhaust gases can be used to provide the plants with CO2. All in all, these motors provide an efficiency that can be up to 20% higher than the traditional method of heating (gas boilers).

Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is used for this type of energy. A drilling tower is used to drill a well to a depth of 2-3 km. At this depth, water of more than 80 degrees can be ‘collected’. This heat is used to heat the greenhouses and then the cooled water is returned to the soil via a second source. It is expected that these sources will be able to continue to produce sufficient heat, even longer than the life of a greenhouse.

Drilling the well is an enormously expensive investment. In addition, there is a great risk that the drilling will ‘fail’. By working together with each other and with governments, in the Netherlands we are able to gain experience with this way of heating greenhouses sustainably.

Water purification
Plants need water and nutrients to grow. More and more nurseries are making use of the reuse of drainage water. This is water that is collected before it disappears into the subsoil. This ‘drainage water’ still contains many nutrients that can be used by the plants.
By reusing this water and mixing it with clean water, less fertilizer is used.
However, the drainage water also contains some ‘wrong substances’. The content of these wrong substances determines how much water can be reused. The application of new techniques creates opportunities to filter these ‘wrong substances’ out of the water.

Diffuse glass
In new constructions, more and more growers are opting to cover their greenhouses with diffuse glass. Diffuse glass ensures that light is distributed much more evenly across the crop without any shade or light spots. This leads to a more even greenhouse climate.
Temperature and humidity can thus be controlled more accurately, which means, for example, that the opening of the air windows can be limited, which leads to lower CO2 emissions.

LED lighting in greenhouse horticulture
A new innovation in horticulture is the use of LED lighting. This lighting is not comparable with LED lighting used in consumer use. In the horticultural sector, the lighting is produced by ‘power LEDs’ and therefore much higher. The major advantage of these ‘power LEDs’ is related to sustainable business practices: energy savings compared to high-pressure sodium lamps (orange-coloured lighting). This saves more than half of the energy.
Another major advantage is that when using LEDs, crops can be better controlled using the different colours in the light. This is in favour of a better growth and a higher quality of the product.