What are we doing to promote the next generation of floral industry talent? How do we attract and inspire young people to join us at all points along the flower chain and help our industry thrive in the future?
It’s a question that Floralife takes seriously, and recently Steven Daum, Floralife Director of Superflor Technologies, joined forces with the Center for Growing Talent by PMA for a special project.
In 1971, 1.3 billion flowers were sold in the US annually. Of those, 1.2 billion were homegrown. Today, sales are 2.1 billion, with 2 billion of those coming from suppliers such as Colombia and Ecuador. Labor costs and globalization played a part, certainly, but another major development contributed to this shift: the Cold Chain.
In the floriculture business, globalization continues and competition is getting even fiercer. Columbia has solid market share in America, and is now reaching out to Japan. Africa is strong in Europe, and now reaches out to America. India and China are coming on strong. With this many resources, you sometimes wonder, “Where do my flowers come from?”
