Good morning! The early bird gets the worm I suppose. Today, we got an early start so we could get an inside look of the Netherlands flower industry. I woke up before the sun but unfortunately the cloud cover was too heavy to see a pretty sunrise. We hopped on the bus and rode to the Royal FloralHolland warehouse.

At Royal FloralHolland, we got to go on a catwalk and learn about the company while watching the warehouse operations below. Now this warehouse was actually huge: about 250 footballs. The company works by having flower growers become members to be able to sell their flowers and earn certain perks. I have never heard of a business quite like that before.

I was fascinated by the warehouse. It was a well oiled machine that seemed incredibly efficient. People drove transport cars around and it was impressive to watch them navigate around without hitting each other. Especially since some people would be towing up to like 15 or so carts full of flowers behind them. It looked like some workers were filling out orders while others were tasked with transporting them to certain locations: likely to and from their shipping and storage areas. The warehouse also had an area with a machine that looked straight out of the movie Monster’s Inc. It looked like the system that would carry around and store the doors from the movie. This were likely used to transport the carts of flowers over much larger distances throughout the factory that would be more difficult to do using the carts I mentioned above. It was interesting to learn about a unique business model and watch just how efficient the warehouse was.

Then, we went to the flower fields to take a look at the growing process. Not only did we see a little farm cat we got to learn a lot. Unfortunately, the hyacinths had gone through their bloom already but there were two fields of blooming tulips that we got to see. This farm specifically grew bulbs so there is a practice they do where they cut off the heads of the flowers after they bloom so the flower can put all of its energy towards growing the bulb. This allows for the bulb to be larger which, in turn, creates larger plants and larger flowers. However, it’s interesting to hear how the farm will cut and sell flowers depending on the market. Like if flower prices are high they will sell the flowers which inhibits the bulb growth by removing green parts of the plant. However, this is useful because when prices are high the farm will likely earn more money through the flowers than just the bulbs.

In terms of sustainability, the cut flower heads are left to decompose and fertilize the soil. They also utilize crop rotation, which I previously have just heard being used with crops like corn and potato, in order to prevent depleting the soil of nutrients and avoid growing certain bacteria in the soil. What I thought was most fascinating was how the farm we visited was growing their flowers in sand. Because of this area’s low elevation, the ground water is incredibly close to the surface. This then allows the farmers to not have to irrigate their plots because the ground water is enough to give the flowers water. This allows the farmers to save so much water not to mention labor and time by not having to manually irrigate. Alternatively, the flowers can also be grown in more clay-like soil to ensure they will be easy to clean and can be transported to countries like the United States. However, this soil does require farmers to irrigate.

It was also really cool to learn about how diseased flowers. Like the photo above, they are very beautiful but it can cause a lot of issues for the growers so they have to be removed so that they don’t infect the rest of the crop.

I’m gonna take the rest of the day for some rest and relaxation because of this early morning. In the meantime, I am researching to see some local live music because I want to see how that compares to music I hear back home.

Until tomorrow <3