Meet the Community: 'Fiber-rich crops: the material of the future'

Dirand van Wijk started Compas Agro six years ago by renting a box on Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo. The company has since grown into a mature research and consultancy firm with 17 employees, seventy partners (grower associations and suppliers), its own premises and its own new trial fields on the campus grounds. 'Our main goal is and remains helping entrepreneurs to become more sustainable.'

The campus would not exist without its community of entrepreneurs, researchers and students. They make the campus a thriving ecosystem where meeting and collaboration are key. Startups, SMEs and corporate companies find in Venlo the knowledge, talent and facilities to start, grow and innovate.

Meet the campus residents of Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo in the section Meet the Community. In this article, Dirand van Wijk of Compas Agro tells his story.

What kind of company is Compas Agro?

We are a consultancy and research company in the agricultural sector and support agricultural entrepreneurs, chain parties and manufacturers with advice, research and project support. We focus on capital-intensive outdoor crops. Crops that are important for Southeast Netherlands such as tree nursery crops, blueberries, asparagus and leeks. The focus is on innovation in cultivation systems, soil and crop optimization, robotization and the promotion of circular agriculture.

Why is the focus on these small crops?

We deliberately choose crops where relatively little other applied research is done. We do not want to compete with other institutions, but rather complement them. We are also the only party in the Netherlands doing research in these small crops. In addition, we have two new crop lines in which we are immersing ourselves: high-fiber crops such as hemp, nettles and miscanthus and high-protein crops such as field beans, lupin and white beans.

Fiber-rich and protein-rich crops: why this choice?

Fiber-rich crops are the building material of the future. These crops are eventually going to replace wood and concrete. We have light sandy soil here in the south and these crops thrive very well on that. As for the protein-rich crops, we now get the soy protein from countries in South America, but we need to find a new way to be self-sufficient in this. This can be done by looking for proteins that can grow here - in the Netherlands.

How did you end up in Venlo?

At Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo everything comes together for us: it is the only agrifood campus in the Netherlands with important research-facilities, in the middle of an important growing area for outdoor crops. We started here in 2019 here with one box and it quickly became four. But we grew out of that as well, so in late 2023 we moved to the St. Janshoeve, right in the middle of campus. At this new location, we have office and meeting rooms and can expand our experimental fields from 1.6 to 2.5 acres.

"The cooperation with educational institutions on campus is also valuable to us. We have four to six students here every year, one or two of whom always stick around.'

What is the added value of the campus for you guys?

The lines of communication on campus are short. We work intensively with companies such as Brightlabs, AgroWizard and the LLTB. All are neighbors of ours. The cooperation with educational institutions on campus is also valuable for us. It is now a lot easier for us to attract young people to our company. We have four to six students walking around here every year, and one or two of them always stick around. I think I'm the oldest, or rather the most experienced in our company: 60% of our employees are under 30, and I'm quite proud of that.

What kind of students come to you?

We mainly have students here from HAS green academy, who study applied biology, business administration or horticulture and arable farming. Maastricht University is starting two new programs on campus next September. Those are definitely going to attract new students again, which we can also benefit from.

What do you yourselves add to the community?

With our experimental fields, research and crop consulting, we can really distinguish ourselves and are a good addition to the campus and the region. We are also the only company on campus that grows its own crops. The outdoor crops and the new crops are of great economic importance to the southern Netherlands.

What does your future look like?

We want to expand further: with our trial fields crop groups as well as areas. We are here on light sandy soil, but there are more areas in the Netherlands with this type of soil. We are expanding our activities with a new branch at the business park of ROOTZ - a knowledge and innovation center for arboriculture - in the Zundert region. Their focus is on tree nursery products and forest and hedge planting (young trees and shrubs), ours more on roses, shrubs and blueberries. We can really learn a lot from each other, I think. But our main goal is and will continue to be helping entrepreneurs to become more sustainable.

More to know?

Visit the website of Compas Agro.

More Meet the Community?

Read the previous interview with Guido Linders of Kekkilä-BVB. The company supplies these growing media for plants to growers and retailers around the world.