HVC — Harvester Chrysanthemum

The Challenge
Chrysanthemums are one of the Netherlands' most economically significant crops, second only to tulips, with a cultivation area of close to 5 million m² and around 140 dedicated growers concentrated in Gelderland and Noord- & Zuid-Holland. The sector exports hundreds of millions of euros worth of product each year.

Despite significant advances in automation across the cultivation cycle, one step has consistently resisted every attempt at mechanization: the harvest. Cutting, lifting, sorting, and bunching chrysanthemum stems has remained almost entirely manual, physically demanding, labor-intensive, and increasingly difficult to staff in a tightening labor market.

The Solution: HVC (Harvester Chrysanthemum)
TTA-ISO, Horizon Technologies, and Linflowers are jointly developing the HVC — a fully integrated, automated system that handles the complete harvesting and processing workflow:

• Cutting: stems are cut just above the ground using a precision cutting system

• Lifting & transport: cut stems are lifted and transported along the greenhouse bed via conveyor

• Sorting: stems are classified into 3–4 quality categories using Vision technology and load cells

• Bunching: stems are automatically grouped into bunches of 5, ready for further processing

A key design principle of the HVC is that it integrates with the existing greenhouse infrastructure, including the standard overhead heating rails and mother cart already present in every chrysanthemum greenhouse. This keeps investment costs low and accelerates adoption.

Our Partners

• Horizon Technologies: cooperation in the harvesting robot development; prototype & development of the cutter.

• Linflowers: Test location; end-user input; launching customer

Project Timeline
The project runs from April 2025 through March 2027. By the end of the project, the HVC will have been fully validated in an operational chrysanthemum greenhouse (TRL 8) and prepared for commercial market introduction.

EU Funding
This project is co-funded by the European Union through the EFRO Oost 2021–2027 program (Europees Fonds voor Regionale Ontwikkeling — Operationeel Programma EFRO Oost-Nederland).