Gramoflor Team Tour España 2023
100 enthusiastic Gramoflor employees mix up the Spanish Valencia!
At the end of September 2023, company boss Josef Gramann made good on his promise: “When the plant in Spain is up and running, we’ll all go there together!” 100 Gramoflor employees from Germany, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Greece and Spain met in Valencia for the “Team Tour España“, as promised at a company party in 2020, and gave the region a good shake!
The three-day trip focused on visiting the new Gramoflor substrate plant in Moixent as well as various renowned horticultural companies. Both gave the opportunity for an intensive professional exchange among colleagues from all over the world.
New production plant since 2021
In 2021, the Vechta-based substrate manufacturer Gramoflor opened its first production plant in another European country. In Valencia, Spain, the company had developed a regional, renewable peat substitute as the basis for its substrates for horticulture there in several years of intensive research work. The innovative gramoFLAKES are based on rice husks, which are abundant in Valencia, one of the strongholds of European rice cultivation, and can replace up to 30 % of peat in the substrate thanks to a special processing method at Gramoflor. On this basis, a state-of-the-art substrate plant was planned and launched in the Valencian municipality of Moixent within just three years.
Varied supporting programme
In addition to the tour of the newly opened plant, the company’s internal organisation team had put together a highly varied supporting programme for the “Team Tour España”. Cultural and culinary highlights alternated like a colourful firework display. These included a performance by a traditional folklore group from Moixent, a visit to the city of Valencia and a boat trip in the Albufera nature reserve. The wetland, interspersed with rice fields, is not only the source of Gramoflor’s novel substrate raw material, but above all a paradise for migratory birds and part of the EU’s Natura 2000 network. The Gramoflor employees learned a lot of exciting things about rice cultivation and the extraction of rice husks as well as about the special flora and fauna of the internationally protected nature reserve Albufera.
Varied team events such as beach football, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, paella dinner and “pure fiesta” in a Spanish beach bar or the relaxed sundowner on the roof terrace with a view of the Albufera rounded off the programme. Shared fun and extensive enjoyment were the main focus for everyone.
The summary of the trip was very positive for everyone, from the apprentice to the management: This team tour was unique, an indescribable experience and an absolute benefit for the team spirit in the company!
