News » 29.04.2025 - obj #45429

‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’

The Kreling Chrysanten cooperative, a partnership of five growers, supplies 160 million chrysanthemum stems to retailers every year. The family business is fully committed to sustainability, innovation and good employment practices. Their efforts were rewarded with a nomination for the Tuinbouw Ondernemersprijs (Horticultural Entrepreneur Award) and ultimately with the first prize. Koen Kreling (pictured right), director of one of the members of Kreling Chrysanten, explains.

"In November, we got a call from Glastuinbouwpact Bommelerwaard en Tielerwaard (the Bommelerwaard and Tielerwaard Greenhouse Horticulture Alliance). They had nominated us for the award. That was great, but we put it to the back of our minds. Until a few weeks later, that is, when we discovered we had made it to the top three. Then all we could do was wait – and in March the jury announced that we had won! It's fantastic news for us," Kreling says. "I have to say that all the other nominees are great companies that are also committed to sustainability and innovation."

In reaching its decision, the jury took into account the fact that besides these aspects, Kreling Chrysanten also excels in collaboration and employment practices. For example, at Diamond Flowers, the site run by director Koen Kreling, new chalets were built for staff accommodation.

Automation as a priority
For Kreling, the top priorities are automation and energy, he says. "We use automation to cut down on labour. We're currently developing some robots, for example. Also, we have been growing chrysanthemums on a mobile bench system for some years now. This has enabled us to increase production by 10 to 15 percent while cutting our energy usage by 20 percent and labour by 40 percent."

Together for sustainability
The grower is therefore making great strides in terms of energy savings. "That's something we need to do if we want to be able to keep on growing chrysanthemums in the long term. To achieve this, we collaborate with other growers in the area, for example by creating a heat network, a CO2 network or a smart grid. We also have a horticultural sewer for drain water so that we don't discharge anything into the environment. We're working together on major projects like these as part of Glastuinbouwpact Bommelerwaard en Tielerwaard."

Sharing with each other
Kreling ends by saying that as a sector we need to approach crop protection as sustainably as possible. "As a family, we have been using the services of MPS for more than ten years to keep records of the fertilisers and crop protection agents we use. We can get a lot out of that."

And this collaboration extends beyond just the cooperative: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Fortunately, chrysanthemum growers share a lot with each other. You can really see that people are making a collective effort to keep the horticultural sector healthy."

 

Source: www.floraldaily.com

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