Closer to home, far more cost-saving innovations are coming to the fore. Most significantly, flowers are getting noticeably greener (if you’ll excuse the pun). Not only does the Dutch floricultural sector plan to be totally independent of fossil fuels by 2020, the sector might even become a sustainable energy supplier. Between 1980 and 2003 the Dutch greenhouse cultivation sector successfully halved energy consumption per product unit by applying energy-saving technology, while at the same time achieving a rise in yield per m². In 2010 savings should have reached 65%, a figure agreed by the government and the sector in 1997.

Under a five-point programme implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Food Quality, solar energy, geothermal energy, biofuels, other low-energy fuels and improved utilisation of sunlight are being implemented.

The programme is also counting on “normal” energy-saving measures, sustainable electricity and sustainable CO₂. Already more than 10% of domestic electricity consumed in the Netherlands is supplied by horticulturalists with cogeneration plants. This involves a gas engine that efficiently converts natural gas into heat and electricity, and the growers either use the energy themselves or supply it to third parties. Since September 2006 some 400 greenhouse growers in the western Netherlands have been using the surplus of CO₂ from a Shell refinery that was formerly emitted into the atmosphere. The growers save 95 million m³ of natural gas a year, and annual emissions of CO₂ have been reduced by 170,000 tonnes.

Meanwhile, the first energy-producing greenhouse, opened in May 2006 by Hydro Huisman in Bergerden, eastern Netherlands, harvests solar energy that can be stored underground and used to heat the greenhouses in winter. The same principle is being applied by orchid grower Van der Hoorn, which has created the country’s first “greenhouse without gas”.

Hydro Huisman chief executive Stef Huisman says: “Over the last two or three years, saving costs in production has become very important to producers – it gives them an edge – but also, consumers have become more interested in environmental concerns. It is very important for the Dutch industry to get this message across.”

The Dutch are also leading the world in the development of new flower breeds that can be protected with rigorously enforced copyright legislation, even if they are grown abroad. For example, small roses now come mainly from east Africa – the world’s largest rose grower, Sher, is in Kenya, but Europe produces more new rose varieties, grown under glass. The Dutch are counting on the flower trade paying a higher price for premium varieties.

This means flower breeders must cooperate closely with the blooming Dutch biotech industry. According to Henk van Oosten of Stichting Innovatie Glastuinbouw, the organisation for innovative greenhouse horticulture, the fact that floriculture is a free market keeps entrepreneurs on their toes. “Their creed is to innovate faster than the competition,” he explains. “This makes entrepreneurs very market-driven and highly sensitive to trends and developments in the fields of design, fashion, emotion, feeling, beauty and surprises. They are able to respond extremely quickly.” By way of an example, last year a research team in Wageningen developed a series of combinations of Asiatic and Oriental types of lily that is hardier for transport and has longer vase life.

Within the field of plant breeding and biotechnology, there is a wealth of new public and private collaborations. For example, the Technological Top Institute Green Genetics four-year programme was launched this year with a budget of €40m, co-financed by the industry, research organisations and the government. While those concerned with the scheme are cagey about divulging too many details, all parties scent high returns. EB