On August 26, 2025, The Greenery and BelOrta officially formalized their collaboration with the creation of FreshAlliance, a “union of forces” in which both cooperatives will continue to exist independently, retaining their own structure, member base, and brands. The collaboration focuses on areas where it can create added value, such as marketing, sustainability, innovation, and data.
For David Markowski, CEO of The Greenery, with FreshAlliance “we are taking a step forward. We are improving our marketing opportunities while preserving the cooperative roots of both organizations. This collaboration offers flexibility and allows us to address, step by step, the issues that bring added value to both customers and growers.”
Meanwhile, Philippe Appeltans, CEO of BelOrta, noted that “there is no overriding reason to collaborate; we want to seek, step by step, opportunities and possibilities that deliver mutual benefits in the areas that matter to our growers and customers. FreshAlliance shows that collaboration and autonomy can go perfectly hand in hand.”
A logical step in a changing market
The collaboration is a response to consolidation and scaling up in both retail and wholesale trade. Thanks to this partnership, The Greenery and BelOrta enhance their geographic distribution and risk profile, resulting in an even more attractive proposition for both growers and customers.
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FreshAlliance does not represent one giant leap, but many carefully chosen steps. It is a growth path towards better sales opportunities, in which both cooperatives have set ambitious goals: positioning their growers for the future, offering customers product availability with innovative solutions, and ultimately becoming an attractive partner for growers and customers in the European market.
