On 12 October, Kees Sijbenga received the Value Ring from deputy of the province of Drenthe, Willemien Meeuwissen. Hij ontvangt de ring voor zijn bijdrage aan de agrifoodsector en het versterken van de relatie tussen boer en burger. Mariëlle Keijzer from De Burchtkamp in Lelystad preceded him as one of the winners of the Ring in Flevoland and also a member of CropMix.

The Value Ring was awarded to entrepreneurs who have worked to improve the relationship between consumers and producers last year. The ceremony also marked the end of the Week Of Our Food. The other winners were Ruth Middelwijk and Evelien Smit.

Pioneering with buckwheat

Kees runs a biodynamic farm with arable farming and poultry. He is one of the pioneers of buckwheat farming in Drenthe. ‘We don't always choose the easy way,’ he told at the awarding ceremony of the Ring. 'But there must also be entrepreneurs who do something completely different for a change and start experimenting. Mixed cropping and strip cropping, for example. We were searching for a while, but it now turns out to be a simple way to quickly improve biodiversity.'

Congratulations, Kees!

Source: Province of Drenthe.

Want to know more about the other winners, go to website of provincie of DrentheWant to know more about Kees' farm? Take a look at the website of the Dennenhoeve.