Today, we had a very early morning as we had to meet at six to witness the peak of the flower auctions at Royal Flora Holland. This large warehouse, spanning the area of 200 football fields, was a marvel of logistics. The facility, which sells and exports an average of 20 million flowers a day, was both streamlined and efficient. It had shelves of flowers that were moved by workers on motorized carts, while other flowers were moved on automatic tracks that led them to their stations. The flowers to be shipped were then lifted into the air and put onto a track that moved 1.8km through the warehouse. This facility truly showcased the services that a wholesaler can offer to producers. They provided an inventory function by storing flowers in their respective climate conditions and organizing shipments. They also added to the assortment function by providing several similar flowers to increase the desire to shop. Finally, they assisted in the transactional process by selling via auction.
What made Royal Flora Holland most interesting was that it is a co-op. The members and farmers collectively own this distribution company, allowing the farmers to have both control and insight into where their product ends up. During the one-hour tour, not once did the factory have any issues or delays in the process. The efficiency behind the movement of the flowers is truly magnificent, especially considering the flowers must leave within 48 hours. The Netherlands is one of the largest exporters of flowers in the world, and the company reported 5.6 billion euros in revenue.
Following our visit to Royal Flora Holland, we had the opportunity to witness one of the sources of the tulips. Visiting a tulip farm was interesting, especially in understanding that the farm we visited was not primarily interested in selling their flowers. Instead, this farm mainly sold tulip and other flower bulbs, which are then used all over the world for people to plant and grow their own tulips.
The process of growing the bulbs is especially interesting. The flower of a tulip is cut off to make a bulb grow larger. Tulip bulbs typically take one to two days to be fully grown, and their flowers are cut off during the spring so that the plant’s energy goes toward making the bulb larger. Conversely, the hyacinth bulb has a small chunk taken out of it where new bulbs grow, as it requires some trauma.
As the Netherlands and the tulip farm are committed to sustainability, there is no waste. The tops of the flowers that are cut off are used for flower sculptures, they are composted, and even daffodil bulbs are used in slowing down Alzheimer’s. When I asked the farmer about pest control, he stated he has no issues with animals, only lice. When I asked about pesticides, he said the farm uses a smell that repels the lice and has not once needed pesticides in 40 years.
The success of the farm can be credited to the conditions of the Netherlands as well. The sand and clay soil is extremely beneficial for flower growth. Additionally, the water is only 65 cm below the surface at his farm. Due to this, the farm requires no irrigation and is never dry.
Finally, the most interesting part about the tulip farm for me was the creation of new tulips through crossbreeding and mutations. The farmer discussed how he experienced a mutation in 2001 when orange tulips appeared in a field of red. These orange tulips were produced and planted; they are now the main flower as they are worth much more than red tulips due to their rarity.
This was our first experience with an extremely large company that was contrasted by a small four generation family farm. Tonight, we are eating a traditional Dutch dinner of Stamppot and I’m excited for days to come.