NEW STRATEGIES IN TRANSPORTATION FOR FLORICULTURAL CROPS

Abstract

In the past century, the centers of production and consumption of ornamentals increasingly have become widely separated. A cut flower bouquet purchased today in a Verona florist could easily combine Italian foliage with flowers grown in Kenya, Colombia, Holland and Thailand. The extended transportation infrastructure and delays between harvest and consumption implicit in this separation can easily result in significant reduction in quality and vase life. Geography plays an important role in selection of transportation mode, and most “long distance” flowers still are transported by air. Air transport typically results in quality loss due to poor temperature control, accelerated water loss, and airport delays and interventions. The high Q10 for respiration in cut flowers (as much as 7!) implies a substantial premium for careful temperature control during transportation. Innovative systems for temperature control could be important tools for maintaining freshness during air transport. The primacy of postharvest temperature control has driven the continued search for ways to use surface transportation - sea containers and trucks are an important tool in this effort. The lack of response of cut flowers to controlled atmospheres (apart from ethylenesensitive flowers) has frustrated this effort, but careful temperature control and monitoring of container temperatures and the use of faster ships has resulted in successful out-turn of flowers transported from Central America to North America. Temperature control also frustrates efforts to direct-market flowers using the Internet. Innovative packaging concepts will be essential to success in this field. THE CONSUMPTION OF CUT FLOWERS IN THE U.S. IS LOW The world market for cut flowers is a dynamic one, with major changes in consumption and production in relatively short time-scales. Of particular interest has been the evolution of the market in the United States, which is illustrated by statistics provided by the USDA Market Research Service (Fig. 1). In brief, the data show: • In the early 70’s, with the entry of significant quantities of imported flowers, consumption rose. • U.S. production was static until the early 90’s, while consumption increased with steady increase in imported product. • During the 90’s the unfavorable comparative economics of production in the U.S. (primarily California) resulted in a rapid decline in local production, which now represents less than 30% of all the flowers consumed in this country. • From the mid-90’s, consumption of cut flowers fell steadily, and by 2000 was less than three quarters of that at the peak (1993). PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION OF FLOWERS IN THE U.S. LAGS BEHIND THAT IN OTHER COUNTRIES Comparison of U.S. and international statistics show the nature of the problem for the cut flower industry in the U.S. Per capita consumption of cut flowers in the United States is very low compared to other developed, and even some developing nations (Table 1). For example, consumption in Holland is 24 times higher, and even in Britain, a nation that historically has had relatively low cut flower sales, present consumption is 16 times that in the U.S. Despite the high standard of living and historically high levels of disposable income in the U.S., cut flower consumption is lower than that in Poland and