Ultra-organic farming is the way to go according to Heuvellands
In 'Spotlight’ we talk about inspiring entrepreneurs. This time: Heuvellands. At Heuvellands they produce organic products that come from untapped food sources, fruit. Ultra organic is their only way and they like to educate the public about this.
Hidden in the south of the Netherlands lies the beautiful Heuvelland. A natural area with great height differences, deep limestone quarries, beautiful views and historic fruit trees. This landscape contains a lot of naturally fertile soil and is therefore the ultimate source for organic products. 'The tasty unsprayed apples and pears that these trees bear are the sole ingredients for all our products,’ says Yuri Sijben, who founded Heuvellands together with his friend Joas Mann.
“We value ‘ultra organic’ and want to educate the public about this. Ultra organic means; unfertilized, unsprayed and handpicked.”
Picking high trunk fruit is quite a labour-intensive undertaking, therefore it has economically fallen behind modern commercial orchards over the past century, resulting in a growing untapped food source. Born from a passion for fair and artisanal products, Yuri and Joas have been making Heuvelsap since 2020 together with their local partners. ‘We only use unsprayed, unfertilized and handpicked fruit to make a true organic fair product. In our completely natural orchard, there are trees that are more than 65 years old. They require more care and attention than regular fruit trees.’ As with everything in their orchard, the conservation and upkeep of the trees is done in a natural way too. Although the old trees require more care, it has a great benefit. ‘The old age of the trees ensures a deep rooting in the soil layers and this can be tasted in all our products!’.
While the use of pesticides is a standard for large agricultural companies, soil quality deteriorates drastically which ultimately harms humans and animals. ‘We try to be an example for an alternative, natural only way of growing crops. Alongside a growing movement of companies who understand the importance and urgency of organic farming, so that people can consume healthy natural foods and we protect our beautiful nature.’ That’s why our mission is: “Creating organic and traditional products with unsprayed, unfertilized and hand-picked fruit. We do this with passion and love for nature.”
Taste of nature
Besides their mission to work on fair and traditional products that come from untapped food sources, it is important to them that pure nature is accessible to everyone. ‘In addition to our products, we offer the opportunity to participate in our activities. We invite people to join us at our ‘picking festival’ or adopt a fruit tree in order to help us with the extensive upkeep of the trees.’ Currently their products are being sold in biological stores. 'Our products consist of a fresh and sweet apple-pear juice. We make fruit wines from pear and cherry based on our own, unique recipes. A delicious pear-apple syrup. We only preserve our juices by means of pasteurization. Because of our artisanal production methods, the result is a tasteful but above all fair product.’
Want to know more? Visit heuvellands.nl
