Dümmen Orange scoops up Plantum Sustainability Award

The Plantum Sustainability Award was presented by Dick Veerman (left) to Foeke Gardenier.  

Ornamental plant breeder and propagator Dümmen Orange has scooped up the 9th Plantum Sustainability Award at the Plantum Day on 19 September. Together with Naturalis, Dümmen Orange developed a method to test and breed the best plants for bees and pollinators.

Pollinators such as the wild bee and hoverfly have declined significantly over the past 30 years. This alarming trend poses a serious threat to our ecosystem.

Bees and other insects are increasingly dependent on garden plants. There is a growing trend in society to remove tiles and plant flowers and plants specifically for bees.

However, not all plant varieties are attractive to insects. Dümmen Orange and Naturalis’ method tests for nectar volume, sugar concentration, number of flowers and colour. The combinations and variations of these traits determine whether a plant is attractive to insects. The tool is designed to find out what makes bees happy and which plants are truly insect-friendly.

The Plantum Sustainability Award wants to encourage the association’s members to communicate more about social activities in order to inspire each other and make the sector’s sustainable efforts visible.

Commenting on this year’s winner, the jury said, “This entry focuses on cooperation with a knowledge institute, where knowledge and expertise from another discipline is made usable and manageable for the breeder. And with that, tangible impact in society can ultimately be obtained.’

This year’s Sustainability Award jury consisted of:

Fioen van Balgooi, project manager at MVO Netherlands with projects around plants, nature, biodiversity or ecological product design.

Dick Veerman, founder, moderator and editor-in-chief of Foodlog

Marien Valstar, a policy officer plant-based materials, Ministry LVVN, Directorate of Vegetable Agro Chains and Food Quality.