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In 1982 Peter and Jetty VanNieuwenhuyzen and their 3 children moved from Holland to Prince Edward Island to start a potato farm. The family started on a small farm in Oyster Bed Bridge and grew seed and table potatoes and dabbled in onion production. The farm continued to grow and in 1990 was presented the opportunity to expand with a large contract from a local frozen food processor. Peter decided that instead of altering existing operations with the expansion, purchasing another farm would be a better option.

In 1990 Pownal Farms Ltd was established and ran along Oyster Bed Farms, both continuing to grow in all aspects of the potato industry.

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Peter's son Willem came back to the farm in 2001 after gaining some experience in flower production in BC. This sparked the interest and the possibility of growing tulips in PEI. Willem continued to farm potatoes with Peter while experimenting with tulips in some oversized garden projects. In 2003 Peter's other son Rit came back to the farm after working in flower sales in Ontario. This combination of production and sales experience propelled the VanNieuwenhuyzens to introduce flower production to PEI.

Operations continued to grow and diversify at both farms under a new combined name of Vanco Farms Ltd. Vanco Farms continues to grow seed potatoes, processing potatoes and table potatoes. They have added an organic production unit in 2004 and continues to develop markets with new specialty varieties in conventional production. The tulip production experiment continues with a substantial greenhouse expansion in 2006.

For a glance at the past, view our history in pictures.