Philips Fruittuin
Excursion

Friday the 19th of April we had an inspiring excursion at the Philips Fruit Gardens in Eindhoven, which is located opposite our BioArt Village. Owners Carlos Faes and Anneke Faes told us everything about the history and evolution of the place, as well as their future visions.

The Philips Gardens were established nearly 90 years ago in Eindhoven by Philips founder Anton Philips as a job creation programme. The twelve hectares of orchard with apple, pear and plum trees brought about an array of jobs and it provided wholesome food for all of the Philips employees. Much later, due to a change in contracts, Philips acquiered another food supplier and the Fruit Gardens lost their biggest customer. Something had to be done and it was then when Carlos Faes was asked by the Philips family to draft a solid business plan to make the Philips Fruit Gardens a commercially feasible business concept. Years later, when the business plan was finished, he presented it to the Philips family. They approved of the plan, but they simultaneously announced to Carlos they wanted to withdraw from the operation. Carlos Faes took over, and started developing the Philips Fruittuin on his own.

Now, the Philips Fruit Gardens not only harbours their fruit orchards, but also a conference space (Pit), a farm store (Landwinkel) with products from the gardens as well as local artisinal products and a pancake restaurant (De Proeftuin). On top of that, it houses a visitor centre for the surrounding nature reserve Het Groene Woud (The Green Forest) and the green strip connecting Eindhoven with Het Groene Woud, the Green Corridor. Over the years, Carlos Faes and Anneke Faes have been at the frontier of development regarding biological and environmentally friendly farming. This goes from conscious usage of land and water, to implementing the newest methods in disease and pest control as well as measurements to increase the biodiversity in the area.