An inauguration ceremony brought to an end the 18-month construction phase for Klasmann-Deilmann GmbH\u2019s new building in Geeste, Germany. Visitors from all over the world had come here for the official celebrations, including business partners and customers from China, Taiwan, Argentina and Germany, as well as representatives from politics, the private sector and professional associations.<\/p>\n
In the subsequent panel discussion, Moritz B\u00f6cking, Managing Director of Klasmann-Deilmann GmbH, expanded on Radermacher\u2019s thoughts in terms of international commercial horticulture. He began by pointing out that the increasing worldwide demand for foodstuffs is taking on increasing significance for Klasmann-Deilmann, making it a key aspect of the company\u2019s strategic focus. In 2017, some 45% of growing media produced were used directly for horticultural production of vegetables, fruit, herbs and edible mushrooms. B\u00f6cking put it more specifically: \u201cIt\u2019s in vitamin-rich foods that we make our contribution. Which means: foods that are healthy.”<\/p>\n At the same time, he said, observation of population and other trends in countries such as China shows that growing affluence results in dietary changes: \u201cAll-year-round availability of vegetables or fruit then takes on a new significance \u2013 and justifiably so. And it is precisely here that we see our potential. The players in commercial horticulture, of which we are one, pursue the common goal of ensuring a balanced, healthy diet. Ultimately, it is consumers that benefit from healthy foods. In terms of achieving sustainability, this is a good line of business that we are, with our innovations, helping to move forward,\u201d concluded Moritz B\u00f6cking.<\/p>\n Interior designer Gunter Fleitz – who played an instrumental role in shaping the Innovation Center \u2013 remarked that, unfortunately, there is no single blueprint by which businesses can promote the kind of innovation needed for industries such as the international food sector. At the same time, he was confident that the \u2018places for interaction\u2019 created within the Innovation Center, as well as the embracing of openness and transparency, would definitely enhance the work environment and contribute to the desired innovation. There is interplay, he said, between employees\u2019 mental agility on the one hand, and the look, touch, feel and sound of a workplace on the other. Fleitz put it in a nutshell: innovation emerges from a sense of wellbeing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to create a forward-looking work environment that enables dialogue and transparency; one that creates an atmosphere conducive to innovation,\u201d commented Moritz B\u00f6cking.<\/p>\n The event was hosted by Dr Markus Baumanns, who heads consultancy \u2018company companions GmbH\u2019 and is a member of Klasmann-Deilmann\u2019s Administrative Board. Music for the occasion was furnished by Hamburg-based singer Katrin Wulff who, with her band, provided varied entertainment. The highlight was a song entitled ‘The Future Is Getting A New Home’, specially composed for the opening festivities, which prompted a particularly warm round of applause.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Klasmann-Deilmann opens Innovation Center |\u00a0 Ceremony attended by many visitors from all over the world\u00a0 |\u00a0 Challenges faced in feeding a growing global population \u201cInnovation starts here.\u201d The rationale behind the new building is clear, and Carl-Gerrit Deilmann, Chair of the Klasmann-Deilmann GmbH Administrative Board, put it in a nutshell. What is on Klasmann-Deilmann\u2019s agenda are new growing media, new substrate constituents and new cultivation systems. And, from now on, this innovation will be set in motion at the Innovation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/\/klasmann-deilmann.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-06-25-BB-Er\u00f6ffnungsfeier-Innovation-Center-Deilmann.Ausschnitt-1024x757.jpg\")
In his ceremonial address, Carl-Gerrit Deilmann stressed that \u201cKlasmann-Deilmann is very much bound up with the resource that is peat. However, our company is also seeking to explore completely new avenues. We have therefore located our new headquarters at a site that will, in the future, no longer have its own peat supply. This will spur us on to develop innovative products and business models. Klasmann-Deilmann has never been an organisation that watches things change. Klasmann-Deilmann is an organisation that\u00a0makes<\/em> things change.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/\/klasmann-deilmann.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-06-25-BB-Er\u00f6ffnungsfeier-Innovation-Center-Podiumsdiskussion-mit-Lies-im-Fokus-1024x683.jpg\")
Lower Saxony\u2019s Minister for the Environment, Olaf Lies (SPD), recalled his first visit to the company \u2013 back when he was Minister for Economic Affairs. He felt at ease here in both capacities, said Lies, as Klasmann-Deilmann is equally synonymous with business growth and with its efforts in the field of environmental and climate protection. He emphasised that investment in this new building is a good example of how the Emsland district authority serves as a role model. \u201cCommercial success is always the result of wise locational choices by business enterprises,\u201d he remarked, adding: \u201cThe nature of an office workplace is significant to a company\u2019s skilled workers in ways that cannot be overstated. Modern work environments encourage creativity.\u201d He therefore extended his praise to the new building\u2019s architecture. Only the day before, he had presented Lower Saxony\u2019s State Award for Architecture. On the one hand, he said, it was regrettable that the Innovation Center had not been in the running for this prize. On the other, he added with a smile, he hopes his own staff never get to see the attractive interior, otherwise they would never want to return to Hannover. In particular, Olaf Lies commended Klasmann-Deilmann for being so forward-looking in dealing extensively with tomorrow\u2019s business models even today. \u201cUnfortunately, by no means all companies give thought to such matters if things are currently going well.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/\/klasmann-deilmann.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-06-25-BB-Er\u00f6ffnungsfeier-Innovation-Center-Martin-Gerenkamp-763x1024.jpg\")
Martin Gerenkamp, deputy district administrator for Emsland, brought greetings from the district\u2019s CEO Reinhard Winter and the entire district authority. He looked back over the company\u2019s long history: founded in 1913, it had been instrumental in the region\u2019s development. Today, Klasmann-Deilmann is among the many \u2018hidden champions\u2019 that have emerged in the German SME scene and that are important not only in our home country but worldwide. The company is one of the major employers in the Emsland region. He especially appreciates that Klasmann-Deilmann had responded with intensified research and development activities to the decline in the traditional resource base and that, in the form of the Innovation Center, it had laid a real cornerstone for its future.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/\/klasmann-deilmann.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-06-25-BB-Er\u00f6ffnungsfeier-Innovation-Center-Radermacher-Baumanns-1024x683.jpg\")
The guest speaker was economist and mathematician Professor Franz Josef Radermacher, a member of the Club of Rome, who addressed the prospects for and challenges inherent in feeding a growing global population, and discussed opportunities for the world\u2019s climate and for soils that could arise from extensive carbon-sequestration measures. He stated that, 10,000 years ago, the Earth had been able to feed some 20 million people. Today, the global population is well into the billions, with a marked upward tendency. In fact, twice the current number of individuals could be fed, provided humanity adopts a vegetarian diet. Actually, however, much of the biomass produced is used for cattle farming; of the foodstuffs that go to feed the rich countries, \u201chalf consists of energy\u201d. The key continent for the future of the planet \u2013 especially in terms of food supply and climate protection \u2013 is Africa which, because of its vast deserts and low population density, has the required potential to meet considerable challenges facing humankind. Here, it would be important to reverse desertification, carry out extensive afforestation, promote humus formation and improve soils in a sustained manner and on a large scale, by enriching them with biochar. This would be a ground-breaking approach in terms of climate, as CO2<\/sub> would be removed from the atmosphere and remain in the soil long-term, with a positive impact for agriculture and forestry (carbon sequestration). With regard to commercial horticulture, Professor Radermacher said that the global population is reliant on \u201call aces being played\u201d. This means that hydroponics systems, vertical farming and other innovative developments in the industry would be of growing importance.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/\/klasmann-deilmann.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-06-25-BB-Er\u00f6ffnungsfeier-Innovation-Center-B\u00f6cking-781x1024.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
He pointed out that substrates have a stabilising role in the rooting zone, act as nutrient buffers and water stores, making them the reliable foundation for high-yielding plant growth. \u201cThis is especially important when you know precisely where our strength lies: we\u2019re unbeatable when it comes to substrates for propagating young plants. This means we\u2019re there for the initial phase in a plant\u2019s growth; our contribution is at the stage that is crucial for a plant\u2019s further development and yield,\u201d B\u00f6cking said. He conceded that salad crops and vegetables play more of a secondary role when the emphasis is on feeding a rapidly growing population, as in Africa: \u201cIn many regions of the world the current priority is not so much vitamins but staple carbohydrate foodstuffs, the focus being on arable crops. Which means: food that fills stomachs.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/\/klasmann-deilmann.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-06-25-BB-Er\u00f6ffnungsfeier-Innovation-Center-Academy-1024x683.jpg\")
The reason for Klasmann-Deilmann\u2019s major investment in this new structure is its continuous growth. For some years, the previous administrative building no longer had sufficient space. In the Innovation Center, additional PC workstations and open-plan areas are now in place for more than 40 employees. It houses an Academy and a multimedia exhibition area, thus providing a suitable setting for events. In this new building, central functions are brought together. The Group will henceforth be managed from here, and strategic and international cooperation strengthened \u2013 both within the Klasmann-Deilmann Group and with partners, customers and stakeholders. A modern experimental greenhouse called the Research Center was also purpose-built in the immediate vicinity for research projects \u2013 some of them already underway \u2013 on innovative growing media, cultivation systems and substrate constituents. The entire location is thus geared towards research, development and innovation.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/\/klasmann-deilmann.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-06-25-BB-Er\u00f6ffnungsfeier-Innovation-Center-Applaus-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWe are especially grateful to:<\/h3>\n
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Facts and figures on the Innovation Center:<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The Innovation Center itself:<\/h5>\n
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Research Center:<\/h5>\n
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Woodchip heating<\/h5>\n
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