I.+A. Hark Orchideen GmbH & Co. KG

The Lippstadt-based company Hark operates the world’s largest orchid propagation laboratory. The focus of today’s work lies in the targeted contract production of orchids. As a partner for growers, breeders and young plant companies, the company plans and produces exactly according to their specifications. Reliability, high production and planning security, trust and transparency are the basis of successful cooperation for Hark.

Hark can now look back on over 120 years of company history. The company has been working with plants at the same site in Lippstadt since 1904. Until the end of 1940, the company produced vegetables and cut flowers for the local market. In 1949, Fritz Hark, the son of the founder, laid the foundation stone for the today’s company. His good understanding of plants, innovative strength and perseverance were the characteristics that shaped him. With the purchase of his first orchid, he developed a passion for these fascinating plants that is still with us today.

In 1986, Fritz Hark Jr. and his wife Ingrid took over the business. The nursery with a small laboratory gradually developed into a special laboratory for the propagation of orchids. In line with the enormous demand on the market, they have built over 17,500 m2 of new laboratory space since 1999. In five ultra-modern laboratories, orchids and increasingly other plants are produced on 332 clean benches with more than 450 employees.

The fourth generation, Anja Hark-Borrmann and her husband Oliver Borrmann, have now taken over responsibility for the company.

In 2012, the company began building a new laboratory in Kalamazoo, Michigan (USA). Since August 2013, more than 50 employees have been producing orchids for the American market in a 3,200 m2 production area. The takeover of a young plant company in the Netherlands in 2020 opened another new door in the company’s history.