Production of Cuttings at Alkemade Brothers: Observations on Quality Control and Use of Light Emitting Diode Lights

摘要

The business was established by Theo Alkemade in 1990 as a cut flower nursery and then began producing rooted cuttings on a small scale as a second crop. A few years later his twin brother Wil joined the company and they started specialising in rootedcuttings. As the company developed it expanded to four locations approximately 5 miles apart, which was not very efficient. An opportunity to relocate the whole company to one location arose in 2011. The new location is 30,000 m2 and includes 28,000 m2of greenhouse. In 2012, approximately 17 million cuttings of more than 1,000 taxa were produced, half of them are sold in the Netherlands the other half is exported, mainly across Europe. This is achieved with a workforce of 12 and there are up to 15 part-time workers during the busiest periods.