Nursery Marjoland has been working hard on sustainability in recent years to be ready for the future and reduce its impact on the environment.
Nursery Marjoland has been working hard on sustainability in recent years to be ready for the future and reduce its impact on the environment.
What have they done?
First of all, Marjoland captures all the water the plants do not need. With drippers, each plant gets just enough water. The excess water (about 50%) is collected in a huge silo, cleaned and used again. They are also smart about soil, fertilisers and use as few chemicals as possible.
Besides being smart with raw materials and chemicals, Marjoland tries to grow as efficiently as possible. Whereas in the 1990s they had about 1,000 hectares of greenhouses in the Netherlands, now they have only about 200 hectares. Yet the production of rose stems has hardly decreased. In other words, they now produce more stems per hectare, making them a lot more efficient.
A multi-year plan to save energy is currently underway. Much of the greenhouse has already switched from traditional lights to LED lights. And that in as many as seven colours, along with normal light. Next year, they even plan to fit the entire greenhouse with LED lights, which will save 40% on lighting.
To package the roses as sustainably as possible, the company tries to keep packaging to a minimum. In some production lines, they have already done away with cardboard packaging altogether and in other lines they have reduced the packaging material as much as possible.
How does Marjoland prevent disease on 20 hectares of roses? They have colleagues walking around to keep an eye on the good and bad insects in the greenhouse. If harmful insects show up, Marjoland prefers biological control agents, such as good bugs, to prevent an infestation.
