LG Flowers B.V.

With more than 100,000 m² of land, spread over 2 locations, LG Flowers grows each year 75 million Gerbera plants. LG Flowers is one of the world’s leading gerbera producers. In 3 generations the company has developed into a reliable player in the flower market. At its base, LG Flowers is a modern, industrial and environmentally friendly company specialising in the distribution, selection and production of gerbera flowers and gerbera plants.

Each of the two locations has its own specialisation. While one is processing flowers with precision required by florists and wholesalers, the other knows everything about delivering plants on water, in bouquets or retail concepts. In addition to cultivating gerbera, plant breeding also takes place within the company. Florya Breeding, the breeding department, grows unique gerberas in special colours, shapes or a combination of these two.

LG Flowers has the ambition to make people happy and give them energy with their gerberas. The people behind LG Flowers love to make connections in the supply chain, thye have a pragmatic approach, an open mind, a lot of choice and especially cheerfulness. Grandpa Piet Lansbergen, together with his sons Aad, Kees and Hein, started making bouquets in 1994 to offer customers more choice. Today, the third generation in this family business is still working, together with a large team, on the same value as it used to be.

Sustainability

Water
LG Flowers works with a recirculation system for its water. This means that all water used is collected, purified and reused for the irrigation of the gerbera plants. In addition, rainwater is collected in five basins which, due to the Dutch climate, is sufficient to supply the plants with water all year round. Through 100% recirculation of the casting water and the use of rainwater, no spring water is used for the cultivation of the gerbera plants.

Nature Conservation

From 1 January 2018, 50% of the crop will be treated only organically in case of diseases and pests by using its natural enemies. The intention is to quickly extend this policy to the entire cultivation, but first it was decided to gain experience on half of the cultivation.

The other 50% works according to the principle of integrated cultivation, which means that organic means or natural enemies are used as much as possible for pest control. Non-natural plant protection products are only used to a limited extent if organic methods prove to be insufficient.

Soil

Gerbera plants grow in a coconut soil. This soil is made by pulverising leftovers of coconuts, which is actually a waste residue from the nut. By reusing the leftovers of coconut, this waste material regains its value as a raw material for the cultivation of gerbera plants.

Waste is separated within the nursery. Plastic, paper, green and residual waste are collected and disposed of properly. Green waste is collected in a press container, so more waste can be collected and the container has to be replaced less often by a truck.

Climate
The greenhouses has a modern climate system that is fully equipped for the cultivation of gerbera plants. This enables the most efficient and optimal use of the combined heat and power plant (cogeneration). The energy generated by the cogeneration plant is used to illuminate gerbera plants. Grow light is only used to enhance the sunshine. The strength of the sun light is measured every day and when the plants are in danger of receiving a shortage of light, the grow lights are switched on to compensate.

People

On average, LG Flowers employs a hundred people, forty of whom are permanent employees.

Both permanent employees and temporary agency workers are remunerated under the agreements in the Collective Labour Agreement for greenhouse horticulture. As a result, there is no difference in remuneration between nationalities. In order to guarantee quality, we work as much as possible with a fixed group of temporary agency workers. These temporary agency workers often have a permanent contract with the employment agency for which they work. Over the years, various temporary employees have been taken over by LG Flowers and are now working in permanent employment.

Employees are involved in the company by, for example, a little gift at their birthday and sharing a drink on a Christmas party. In addition, part of the permanent staff applies departmental and personal objectives to further develop themselves and to contribute to achieving the organisation’s objectives.

At LG FLowers we are convinced that we can only move forward if there is good cooperation with the employees.

Health

Did you know that flowers and plants have a healthy effect on people?

Plants provide air purification..
People breathe in air, take out oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. In the case of plants it is the other way around. During photosynthesis, plants remove carbon dioxide from the air and convert it back into oxygen. The amount of oxygen in the air is increased by the presence of plants, which makes breathing easier.
Air-purifying plants can absorb harmful substances from the air through their leaves. These harmful substances are then stored and broken down in the plant’s roots. These plants can also break down dirty odours, so they are actually natural air fresheners.
For the sake of clarity, every (indoor) plant produces oxygen, but not every plant also purifies the air. Air-purifying plants are e.g. the Spathiphyllum, Calathea, Hedera helix (ivy), Areca palm and the Ficus. For many plants we do not yet know to what extent they have an air purifying effect since they have not yet been tested.
Plants ensure a better concentration and a reduction of stress.
Plants create a relaxed and better atmosphere, also at work.. Plants make the workplace a more pleasant place to work.
Apparently there is even a relationship between the presence of plants and the productivity of employees.
Moreover, the presence of plants has a positive effect on the creativity and concentration of people.
Plants reduce the dryness of the air
The dust content and humidity in the house are strongly related with each other. The dryer the air, the more dust. This can cause symptoms such as a tickling cough, dry skin, headaches and irritated eyes. By watering plants, it finally evaporates again through the stomata in the leaves. Plants can thus increase the humidity of the air, which therefore benefits the air quality.
Plants provide a pleasant and warm feeling
Research has shown that plants are good for people in various (subtle) ways. They play an essential role in creating a pleasant, natural and quiet environment in which to move, work and/or relax.
Did you know that flowers too have a healthy effect on people?
Flowers can brighten up any room in a magical way. They give meaning to our emotions such as love, joy, comfort, compassion and sorrow. Flowers provide a relaxing effect on our constitution. They provide positive energy in the home and a warm feeling. In short, everyone is just very happy about that!

Care

Gerbera:

Innovation

The Dutch greenhouse horticulture sector is worldwide renowned for its innovative power. In order to be one step ahead of the competition from other parts of the world, people are constantly looking for better efficiency in the use of raw materials and space. This, of course, without compromising the (top) quality of the Dutch product.

The glasshouse horticulture sector in the Netherlands can cope with this rapid pace of innovation thanks to a strong relationship between research and practice. In addition, a great deal of knowledge is exchanged between the entrepreneurs in order to make progress together. The flower auctions are a good example of this as one of the largest cooperatives in the world.
Below we describe a few examples of this innovative power.

Biological control and integrated pest management
In order to minimise the use of pesticides and to find a better balance between parasites and their natural enemies, natural enemies of the parasites are used in the greenhouses. Thanks to the intensive exchange of knowledge between the growers and their suppliers, growers are increasingly able to produce a top quality product with organic solutions.

Combined heat and power (CHP)
Combined heat and power (CHP) is a large engine, originating from the shipping industry. Only it has been converted to run on natural gas. The efficiency of this motor is higher than traditional gas boilers. These engines drive a generator that generates electricity. This electricity is used in the company’s own nursery or is supplied back to the public electricity grid. The ‘residual heat’ produced by the engine is used to heat the greenhouses. After cleaning, the exhaust gases can be used to provide the plants with CO2. All in all, these motors provide an efficiency that can be up to 20% higher than the traditional method of heating (gas boilers).

Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is used for this type of energy. A drilling tower is used to drill a well to a depth of 2-3 km. At this depth, water of more than 80 degrees can be ‘collected’. This heat is used to heat the greenhouses and then the cooled water is returned to the soil via a second source. It is expected that these sources will be able to continue to produce sufficient heat, even longer than the life of a greenhouse.

Drilling the well is an enormously expensive investment. In addition, there is a great risk that the drilling will ‘fail’. By working together with each other and with governments, in the Netherlands we are able to gain experience with this way of heating greenhouses sustainably.

Water purification
Plants need water and nutrients to grow. More and more nurseries are making use of the reuse of drainage water. This is water that is collected before it disappears into the subsoil. This ‘drainage water’ still contains many nutrients that can be used by the plants.
By reusing this water and mixing it with clean water, less fertilizer is used.
However, the drainage water also contains some ‘wrong substances’. The content of these wrong substances determines how much water can be reused. The application of new techniques creates opportunities to filter these ‘wrong substances’ out of the water.

Diffuse glass
In new constructions, more and more growers are opting to cover their greenhouses with diffuse glass. Diffuse glass ensures that light is distributed much more evenly across the crop without any shade or light spots. This leads to a more even greenhouse climate.
Temperature and humidity can thus be controlled more accurately, which means, for example, that the opening of the air windows can be limited, which leads to lower CO2 emissions.

LED lighting in greenhouse horticulture
A new innovation in horticulture is the use of LED lighting. This lighting is not comparable with LED lighting used in consumer use. In the horticultural sector, the lighting is produced by ‘power LEDs’ and therefore much higher. The major advantage of these ‘power LEDs’ is related to sustainable business practices: energy savings compared to high-pressure sodium lamps (orange-coloured lighting). This saves more than half of the energy.
Another major advantage is that when using LEDs, crops can be better controlled using the different colours in the light. This is in favour of a better growth and a higher quality of the product.