Mark Elzinga, owner of Elzinga & Hoeksema Greenhouses of Portage, MI has worked hard to create an atmosphere of eco-friendly practices in their five locations and among all associates. With geo thermal heat, solar panels and wind energy, the Millennial range is a shining example of sustainable practices, including USDA organic production in 4 acres of the range. Yet to Mark, this wasn’t enough. He investigated certification programs and decided to begin MPS-ABC. “I liked the European way of looking at the environment and involving our associates and getting a comparison of how we are doing versus other North American growers and European growers. We are proud of many of the things we do which are good for the environment, and are glad that we have been able to create a culture in our organization which encourages everyone to do their part as good stewards of the environment: recycling, researching new growing practices, thinking and caring about wasteful use of resources as we complete our tasks. Take recycling: while we don’t know that we will ever reduce our trash to ‘0’, the cost savings has been significant, where our trash is less than half of what it was two years ago. I value the MPS-ABC program as it is a scorecard to help us understand what we can do better and how we compare to other growers.”
In a year, the Elzinga & Hoeksema team will get their first score. First they must record their use of fertilizers, crop protection agents, energy, water and document their recycling. After one year and an audit, the score will document a comparison to other growers, and become a management tool for their internal use. Some growers use the score to benchmark their improvements over time, others may start out immediately with a high score which documents the good practices which they already have embraced. It thereby addresses a range of growers and rewards all levels of sustainable practices.
MPS is proud to have quality growers such as Elzinga & Hoeksema Greenhouses in their program and welcomes grower 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.
Source: MPS
