Hi, my fabulous flower friends! Today we're going to talk a little about the gobal floral supply chain. I have taken the last couple of years to really learn about the global flower industry as a whole. By working with several different wholesalers, I have been able to learn how flowers are grown in other countries, packaged, and shipped for transportation from all around the world. Many flowers are loaded into the cargo area of passenger planes and flown into places like Miami, then trucked or flown to their final desination. The Covid-19 pandemic grounded many of the flights that carried those flowers and has also impacted many of the farms that grow for global sales. Last year many farms were forced throw out millions of dollars worth of flowers as lockdowns cancelled weddings, events, other celebrations and restricted movement of florists, and farm workers alike. At the same time consumers began to show more of an interest in spreading joy by sending flowers or keeping them in their home.
Over the last week or so I've been receiving emails from my wholesalers concerning the global flower supply chain. The pandemic, adverse weather conditions, and the logistics of shipping flowers have greatly impacted the number of blooms being produced and shipped around the globe. In essence, supply is short, demand is high, the logistics of importing flowers has bottlenecked, and prices are starting to increase. As such, we are preparing to meet the demand as best we can by continuing to provide locally grown cut flowers to other flower lovers in northeast Missouri.
In the next few weeks I will be reaching out to local florists to see how I can support them through this unprecidented time. It is still early enough in our growing season that I may be able to custom grow flowers for their weddings and events, however, substitutions may still need to be made.
We are all in this together.
Until next time, keep spreading joy!
Jill
P.S. If you'd like to learn a little more about the global floral industry, I have found this article by Petal Republic to be informative.
Comments