“But once an innovation is adopted more broadly, the game changes. It’s no longer just about the idea, but about scale: production, sales, and organization need to become more efficient to make it affordable and accessible to a larger market. That’s where consolidation emerges—not as a goal in itself, but as a logical result of a sector maturing. Anyone who wants to remain relevant must be able to scale up or position themselves smartly within that scale.”

Atrium Agri itself is a consolidation of companies. How do you ensure you benefit from economies of scale without losing entrepreneurship?

“As you mentioned, by being a group of companies, we are both complementary and resilient. We can oversee and serve the full spectrum without taking unmanageable risks. At the same time, the underlying companies retain their own dynamics and entrepreneurial spirit.

“In addition, we organize a number of functions at the group level, such as Finance, Legal, HR, and ICT. By allowing these to work efficiently together, we leverage economies of scale and can take joint steps more quickly, for example in deploying new (AI) tools in our processes. This allows us as a group to achieve efficiency gains that individual companies would find more difficult to realize.

“Both elements reinforce each other: scale enables investment and acceleration, while entrepreneurship ensures that new opportunities continue to be identified and seized.”

We live in a ‘geopolitical pressure cooker.’ What does that mean in concrete terms for the greenhouse horticulture sector and the way companies organize themselves?

“On the other hand, opportunities are also emerging, as more production will need to be localized and the global population continues to grow.”

Many companies still operate fairly autonomously. Where do you think the sector is missing opportunities when it comes to collaboration?

Marck: “Autonomous? In a sector historically full of cooperatives? From purchasing groups to sales organizations, and from financial structures to advocacy, our sector isn’t really that autonomous. The real question is whether we are still using the right forms of collaboration. Are they based on today’s economic reality? Are they driven by subsidies, sustainability, market demand, or efficiency? In practice, these factors are increasingly intertwined.

“In a rapidly changing world, this calls for a different way of collaborating—more integrated, with shared responsibility across the entire chain. There are still plenty of opportunities here, particularly in better aligning interests and organizing scale and knowledge more intelligently.

“At the same time, you also see that not everyone moves along. Those who neither lead nor consciously follow will ultimately fall behind. Sometimes that is a conscious choice an entrepreneur is at peace with, but it doesn’t make the outcome any less finite.”

Demand is shifting from individual products to complete solutions. How does that change the role of companies in the value chain?

Marck: “This is also a shift driven by the market itself. Our home market, specifically the Netherlands, is no longer a real growth market for Atrium Agri. At the same time, we are involved in the majority of projects still being realized here. Innovation happens precisely here, because we are constantly challenged to the limit on themes such as labor, knowledge, energy, and raw materials.

“The customer in the Netherlands often knows very well what they want. Our role there is more about refining and optimizing—making things just that little bit better. In that context, it’s more often about price and trust in specific expertise than about fully outsourcing a project.

“Internationally, we see a different picture. There, demand is clearly shifting toward multiscope and turnkey projects, where one party is responsible for the whole under an EPC contract. That fundamentally changes the role of companies in the value chain.

“It’s no longer just about supplying a component, but about organizing and managing the entire project and the associated risks. That requires scale, collaboration, and integration of knowledge. In our case, we have bundled that expertise within the group and can also carry part of the financial risk. This reduces uncertainty for the customer and allows us to respond to the shift toward complete solutions and customer comfort.”

Is the Dutch greenhouse horticulture sector keeping up quickly enough with global developments, or are we falling behind?

Marck: “That’s a difficult question. By adapting and continuously implementing improvements—such as geothermal energy, LED lighting, and robotization—you certainly keep pace with developments. At the same time, if you could start completely from scratch, you could innovate much more radically and disruptively. In practice, however, you work with existing structures and assets, and you can only do what is possible within that context.

“Technically, the biggest leaps are made in new construction. That’s where real progress can be achieved. But the reality is that the sector develops gradually, greenhouse by greenhouse.

“Globally, we are at the forefront as a greenhouse horticulture sector. But when compared to other industries, there is still room to accelerate. That’s not surprising, because our sector scales in a fundamentally different way. A greenhouse doesn’t come off a production line like a car or a phone—each project is, to some extent, custom-made.”