At the beginning of this month, Colruyt Group and organic farm De Lochting renewed their partnership agreement. What makes this new agreement so special is that it is for an ‘indefinite period,’ a unique arrangement in the sector. De Lochting is an organic horticultural business in Roeselare that focuses on social employment. It employs 120 people who are unable to work in the regular job market. Colruyt Group and De Lochting have been working together since 1999. Over the years, the partnership has developed into a close collaboration. The result is delicious organic vegetables on the shelves at Colruyt Lowest Prices and Bio-Planet.
A warm company, delicious organic vegetables
De Lochting is an organic horticultural business in Roeselare that employs 120 people who face difficulties entering the regular job market. They work in the fields or in the greenhouses, in the kitchen, or assemble vegetable packages. In 2009, Colruyt Group first entered into a structural agreement with De Lochting to supply vegetables, but the first delivery goes back to 1999. We take 85% of their volume. Around 35 different types of De Lochting’s products are available in our stores. Today, in the autumn, this includes pumpkins, lamb's lettuce, leeks, field salad, as well as various types of cabbage, carrots, and mushrooms. Additionally, recently there have been ready-to-use wok and soup mixes, made from vegetables that do not meet the required size for sale, on the shelves at Bio-Planet.
In-depth cooperation with no end date
The cooperation between Colruyt Group and De Lochting has deepened over the years and goes far beyond a typical supermarket-supplier relationship. For example, we supported De Lochting in 2016 when they were going through a financially difficult transition period. By selling their transition organic vegetables (These vegetables are already being grown organically but do not yet have a bio-certificate, meaning growers do not receive the market price) in our stores, De Lochting was able to expand with 20 hectares of organic farmland. For Colruyt Group, this is a way to ensure a high-quality, Belgian organic offering and contribute to the future of organic farming in Belgium. “Over the years, trust has grown tremendously on both sides, which is why we have now chosen an agreement with no end date,” says Gunther Uyttenhove, Head of Farming and Fine Food at Colruyt Group.
Continuing to invest in organic
Colruyt Group has been actively investing in organic products in its supermarkets for more than 25 years. The collaboration with De Lochting, which started more than 15 years ago, has developed into a close partnership that allows us to offer more local organic products in our store shelves, with the range and volume well-matched to customer demand and the seasons. The partnership provides De Lochting with more financial security and growth opportunities, Colruyt Group with a consistently high-quality organic offering, and raises consumer awareness of the richness of local organic farming and the efforts that organic farming requires. With this new agreement without an end date, we are once again taking an important step in securing the Belgian organic supply.
Gunther Uyttenhove, hoofd Farming Colruyt Group en Nele Schelstraete, voorzitter van De Lochting.
De partnerschapsovereenkomst van onbepaalde duur.
