Global Suppliers Of Unrooted Cuttings Raise Standards To Meet Demand

Consolidation isn’t a new thing among breeders and this year, it has changed things up yet again. For most cuttings producers, consolidation also means more competition, and raises the standards for high-quality plants and reliable supply.

“As the number of independent production locations goes down, it becomes more obvious that breeders will try to take production into their own hands,” says Beekenkamp’s Martijn Kuiper.
But for independent producers, consolidation means both new opportunities and new challenges.

Advertisement

“There is a demand to work with independent companies, but also a threat that certain breeders are getting blocked by being part of the consolidation,” says Andreas Kientzler of Kientzler North America and Innovaplant de Costa Rica.

Ball FloraPlant President Allan Davidson says, “Consolidation means there are fewer decisionmakers, though this has both positive and negative implications. Consolidation and larger businesses also mean that in many cases, shipment sizes have grown.”

Reading The Rankings

Top Articles
Dutch Lily Days Offers Meeting Place for Breeders and Growers

The changes within the Dümmen Orange organization to streamline its identity and offerings have combined two of the top cuttings producers — Agribio Group and Dümmen Group — into one. And with the most recent news of Dümmen Orange purchasing the product portfolio of Florexpo, and moving production of its offerings to Antigua Flowers in Guatemala from Costa Rica, the market has consolidated further. Read more about the improvements Dümmen Orange has made to its facilities.

But these changes have also made room on the list for a newcomer — Vivero Internacional. Learn more about how the independent cuttings producer, based in Mexico, works with six breeders, and has exported cuttings since 1993.

We’ve also included two others on the list, whereas in the past we have cut it off at 10. But GroLink Plant Co., an MPS- and NAKT-certified, on-shore producer of cuttings, provides a significant number to the marketplace, as does Darwin Perennials, with its new production facility in Colombia.

Keeping Up With Standards

Increased competition and the zero-tolerance policy for disease and pest pressures at the U.S. border have placed a spotlight on offshore producers’ phytosanitary standards in the past several years. As a result, farms have sank endless resources into improving plant quality and ensuring cleanliness. They have invested in new facilities, retrofitted and upgraded older farms and participated in certification programs to score and benchmark progress in not only sanitation but also other areas, from social responsibility to most recently fair trade.

Florensis Kenya has developed a scouting app, which provides near real-time data from the field and makes crop protection interventions even more effective, says Robbert Hamer

Florensis Kenya has developed a scouting app, which provides near real-time data from the field and makes crop protection interventions even more effective, says Robbert Hamer

With the near completion of its Las Limas farm in Nicaragua, Ball FloraPlant will soon be at full production. As a result, the company will discontinue contract production in Israel for 2016 and move it to Nicaragua, according to Davidson.

Beekenkamp continues to look for a new production location in Central America to provide more of its genetics to the North American market. In its current facilities, Kuiper says Beekenkamp has implemented stricter protocols and intensified testing protocol. Beekenkamp is NAKT Elite and MPS certified.

Robbert Hamer says Florensis, based in the Netherlands, is looking into additional sites within the same countries where it has production facilities, to cover increasing demand. He says for the past 15 years, the company has focused on operating at the highest level of social, business and phytosanitary practices.

Innovaplant de Costa Rica established its own standard when it was founded in 1993, says Andreas Kientzler.

“We have to prove ourselves year by year and maintain this standard,” he says. “It is an ongoing process with smaller improvements.”

Kientzler/Innovaplant is providing more education to employees about the importance of working clean and careful, and reviewing sanitation protocols by external audits. The group is currently pursuing MPS certification, Kientzler says.

Cohen Propagation Nurseries, certified by Naktuinbouw and Global GAP, has added more use of sanitation chemicals, and also implemented strict protocol and separation between different products.

Selecta Klemm has introduced the NAKT Elite standard, a renowned quality management system within the industry.
“We see both internal and external audits, management reviews and clearly defined processes as an important tool to ensure sanitation of our unrooted cutting and rooted cutting facilities,” Klemm says.

Looking Toward The Future

Offshore producers of vegetative cuttings say some of the biggest challenges looking forward include labor shortages, maintaining plant quality and margins despite increasing costs and the ability to control pests environmentally while complying with border restrictions.

“There is a permanent pressure on margins, yet at the same time, expectations regarding the reliability of supply, quality of genetics and services are constantly increasing,” Klemm says.
Increased competition adds even more pressure for some suppliers, while availability of space to produce everyone’s genetics is another stressor.

“There is a lot of interest from different breeders and agents who work with us, but not all can be done at once,” Kientzler says.

Because raising cleanliness standards to reduce pest and disease pressure is an ongoing goal, it’s always a challenge but also an opportunity for ingenuity, Hamer says.

“We’re working hard on servicing the ever-increasing peak demands in an economical way,” he says. “And of course the dichotomy of closer scrutiny on any bug (also beneficials) and restrictions on highly effective protection means. The good thing is, this forces us to really think outside the box.”

Labor shortages exist even offshore, where traditionally labor has been more readily available and less expensive. But producers are starting to move away from areas that have presented challenges in labor availability, as with Florexpo’s redevelopment of its property in Costa Rica, and portfolio sale to Dümmen Orange.

“The increasing cost of offshore production remains a challenge, and the focused demand during peak season is much higher and longer,” Davidson says.

0