Fluence expands to Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Fluence by OSRAM LED horticultural lighting has been launched in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), supported by an experienced team of technical advisers to help growers produce the best crops possible to meet market demands in the region. The move follows OSRAM’s acquisition last year of Fluence Bioengineering Inc., a leading supplier of energy-efficient LED lighting for commercial crop production and research applications, founded in 2013 in Austin, Texas.

“The latest generation of LEDs are energy efficient and are ready to replace traditional lighting, as they produce equal or better-quality crops,” said David Cohen, Fluence by OSRAM’s chief executive officer. “Today, aspects of quality such as appearance, flavour and shelf-life are decisive factors influencing buyers of plants and produce in their choice of supplier. Fluence is pioneering the use of full-spectrum LED lighting to enable growers to produce high-quality crops.”

“The Fluence by OSRAM brand combines the reliability and global reach of OSRAM with the agile and innovative product portfolio of Fluence, to address the unique needs of European growers and researchers when it comes to major concerns such as seasonality, plant uniformity and consistency," Timo Bongartz, general manager of Fluence by OSRAM who leads the EMEA team, said.

Fluence’s staple full-spectrum LED lighting systems provide specific advantages for growers to achieve higher yields and higher quality than traditional horticultural lighting in greenhouse and multi-layer cultivation.

“We grow plants faster with Fluence lighting during the winter months and achieve a finished product quality that exceeds everything we have seen before,” said Bjorn Isaacson, owner of Hällnäs Handelsträdgård, a grower of potted herbs and leafy salads, bedding and pot plants just south of the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden. “Our head grower wanted to produce tastier herbs and greens containing more flavour compounds, and by following this path, we have created completely new products, unique from what we offered before.”

ECF Farmsystems from Berlin, an urban aquaponics innovator, installed a Fluence vertical farm solution: “Working with Fluence by Osram’s team we began propagating our young basil plants in a multi-layer configuration, which cuts the risk of pests or diseases being brought into the unit,” said Nicolas Leschke, CEO of ECF Farmsystems. “It also resulted in shorter cycle times and, with that, increased production.”

In the USA, Fluence is a market leader in LED lighting for the medical cannabis market. As the European Union defines how the medicinal cannabis industry will comply with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Fluence solutions are engineered with GMP and GACP compliance practices in mind.

“GMP compliance is of utmost importance to our current and future cultivation plans,” said Levin Amweg, co-founder of Cannerald, a leading medical cannabis grower in Switzerland. “Cannerald is producing cannabis of the highest quality, with GMP practices in mind and working with the blockchain. Fluence understands ensuring uniform and thorough cultivation standards are a top priority, and the entire Fluence support team have been fantastic partners of ours.”