Business is blooming

Sunflowers have become an increasingly popular cut flower in recent years, but along with much horticultural produce, their production has always been labour intensive. L&D Flowers is aiming to tackle that issue by mechanising the harvesting and packing process and using the latest equipment for growing to further increase efficiency and profitability. The company is the market leader in sunflowers, growing 270ha, with Tesco as its biggest customer, alongside Marks and Spencer, Lidl and Waitrose.

“We were unique as both a grower and packer of flowers, although this is becoming more of a popular model,” explains director James Lacey. “My goal is to automate the entire process, and working alongside Tong Engineering, we have recently developed one of the most advanced sunflower packhouses in the industry, designed around mechanised harvesting, which has cut the requirement for packers