Global Flower Logistics: Year-Round Availability, Logistical Strain, and Cost Pressures

Key Quotes

"When there's demand, supply finds a way. Advances in refrigeration and logistics have turned the cut flower industry from a direct farm to consumer business into an international web of farms, shipping companies, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers. You can get your peonies year-round now for the most part, and it's by bouncing around the entire world."

Jasmine Gomez Gonzalez highlights how technological advancements have transformed the cut flower industry, enabling year-round availability of previously seasonal flowers like peonies. This shift has created a complex global supply chain involving numerous intermediaries to meet consumer demand.

"The international flower market hinges entirely on quick and dependable shipping. Flowers are highly perishable; they're essentially dying from the moment they're harvested. The supply chain is set up to make sure that the product can get from a farm to a wholesaler in just a week's time."

Bob Milano explains the critical role of rapid and reliable shipping in the cut flower industry due to the perishable nature of the product. The entire supply chain is meticulously designed to minimize the time between harvest and arrival at the wholesaler, often within a week.

"Miami International Airport has been the main point of entry for South American flowers. That's where some of the shipments go through customs, where officers check boxes for drugs and bugs. They'll check all those pallets that are coming in, and if they find one box of something that has a bug in it, they will hold the whole product; they have to either fumigate them or destroy the boxes."

Zachary Crockett details the rigorous inspection process at Miami International Airport, a primary entry point for South American flowers. This strict customs procedure, aimed at preventing the spread of pests and diseases, can lead to the confiscation or treatment of entire shipments if any contamination is found.

"We're dealing with so many factors like mother nature. There can be things like canker; maybe there is a disease in a greenhouse, and then that means that their supply gets a little bit lessened, and the demand is higher. They're going to have to raise their prices a little bit to cover those expenses and make sure that they recuperate their greenhouses."

Jasmine Gomez Gonzalez describes how natural factors, such as disease outbreaks in greenhouses, can significantly impact flower supply. When supply is reduced due to these issues, and demand remains high, growers are compelled to increase prices to offset their operational costs and losses.

"The largest growers in South America are buying up the smaller growers. Many see California land as better suited for another industry. In the past 10 years, one big industry that kind of blew up in California was the marijuana industry, so a lot of farms said, 'We're not going to be growing flowers anymore; we're going to be growing marijuana.'"

The text explains a significant shift in land use for agriculture in California. Large South American growers are acquiring smaller farms, while many California farms are transitioning from flower cultivation to the more profitable marijuana industry due to economic pressures.