Emsflower is busy expanding its facilities in Emsbüren. There will be another 12 hectares of glass, and according to business manager Bennie Kuipers, about 50 new jobs will be created. The intention is to continue to further concentrate the production in this little German town, just across the border near Enschede. The locations in Denekamp and Erica will be closed in due course. That reports the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung (NOZ).
The new greenhouse is being built on the plot of land between the main company location and Emsland Gemüse, which is just behind it. Half of the new acreage (6 ha) is intended for the production of bedding plants, the other half, just like the greenhouse of Emsland Gemüse, will be a ‘combination greenhouse’: a greenhouse to alternate between flowers and tomatoes (or cucumbers or peppers) per season. In the fall it must be completed.
The combination greenhouse of Emsland Gemüse
Emsflower does not like to be inactive. Last November, a new greenhouse was opened, from which the first geranium plants were supplied in January. With the extra 12 ha, the acreage of glass in Emsbüren grows to 64 ha. With the locations in Denekamp and Erica, the total is 87 ha, plus two more ha in Tanzania (where cuttings are multiplied). The former nursery in Fretzdorf near Berlin has recently been sold.
The complex is not only Europe's largest plant nursery, there’s also a restaurant, a playground, a garden center and more. In addition, the nursery is a precursor in technology and automation: everything is done fully automated, dozens of computer-controlled electric tractors ('Rhynos') drive up and down. Also in the field of potting, cuttings, spacing of the cuttings and more, Europe's largest plant nursery is definitely not lagging behind.
Click here for the original German article on the NOZ