While in Amsterdam we visited the world’s largest market for flowers and plants — Royal FloraHolland.  We were fascinated by learning how quickly fresh flowers move through the system, and how quality is graded.  

Major growing regions include Kenya, Ethiopia, Israel, Belgium and Germany, with Dutch growers.  Flowers are picked, boxed and air shipped to Amsterdam.  They are kept at 35 degrees (roses 42 degrees) throughout the journey, and timed to arrive between 2 and 6 am.

Upon arrival they are photographed, graded, issued scanning codes and put in containers that are a global standard for shipping (with water).  Then they are moved to the ready for auction area.

The auction is a reverse dutch auction, meaning that the price starts high and drops until someone hits the “buy button”. The person who hits the button first gets the deal but is paying the highest price. It moves fast.  32 auction clocks produce 96,000 auction transactions on an average day.  The buyers used to be on-site. Since COVID they are all remote, and will remain that way.

Once purchased the containers are moved to the “gathering” area, A buyer is likely to purchase multiple lots for multiple groups, so it gets pretty complex.  The various lots for each buyer need to be assembled for shipping.  

Good to know:  Buyers are really agents, and can represent many different groups. A pattern has emerged that buyers representing supermarkets bid the lowest, and get the wimpiest flowers.

As soon as the buyer completes their order their lots are moved to the shipping area, typically before noon.  Then they are loaded on a plane, still in their standardized containers.  By 3 pm they will have arrived in New York, for example.  

Some key facts:

The physical space under one roof is the size of 250 soccer fields. Twin facilities this size – one for flowers and one for plants. As you can imagine, tractors and carts are in constant motion to achieve this kind of volume. Some quick facts:

• 2.8 billion roses and 1.8 billion roses sold annually
• Average daily sales = 18.2 million Euros, 44 million flowers

The auction started on a pool table in a local cafe in Aalsmeer in 1910. It has certainly come a long way!

(scroll below for photos)

–– Jim Deupree

My collaborator for this post was Frank K, our superb tour guide for five days.  We toured from Brussels to Amsterdam with him, then from Amsterdam to Bruges.  In between in and around Amsterdam.  Highest recommendation.  info@holland2go.nl

Windmills are a favorite subject of artists and photographers. They intrigue us! We mostly associate them with Holland, or The Netherlands. Now only about one tenth (1,000) are left. Before we answer the question about where have they gone it dawned on me that I did not know why they are there, and why so many in that part of the world? 

Half of the windmills in The Netherlands were industrial, used for grinding grains, pressing seeds into oil and sawing wood.  Similar to water wheels in the USA.  The other half were for water management.  One fourth of The Netherlands is below sea level. Not just Amsterdam – the whole country. Sixty percent is at sea level or below. Much of the farmland and some villages were reclaimed from lakes hundreds of years ago. So the whole country depends heavily on a system that moves  water to the sea. And not just after a big storm. All the time. 

That system begins with ‘ditches’ cut into the fields to collect water. The ‘ditches’ also form boundaries in the farms, so no fences are needed to contain livestock or define property lines.

Water from the ‘ditches’ is pumped into collection canals (also called ring canals), which are at a slightly higher elevation. Long before there was electricity that was the job of the windmills. To pump the water. They were not just decorative. They were essential. 

Then the water is pumped again from the collection canals to the rivers, which have built-up banks (levees). Windmills did that as well. From the rivers the water flows to the sea. Today it is all done by electric pumps, so the windmills are no longer needed. This whole system is governed by a Management Board, whose officials are elected. It remains a very important role, because they inspect every ditch, collection canal and levees, and the pumps, twice a year. They also control the remaining windmills, and decide which ones to maintain. 

Some of them are now leased as residences, and the occupants are required to operate the windmills a designated number of 60,000 rotations a year to keep the mechanism working.

One other intriguing fact. How much water needs to be pumped varies. More after a big storm. Less after a dry period. So how did they control the speed of the windmills, and therefore the pumping? With sails! Each windmill blade has a canvas ‘sail’ that can be unfurled to cover more of the blade. More sail – more speed! And the blades of the windmill or sometimes the entire windmill can be turned into the wind direction. This simple solution also goes back 400 years.  They can only operate them while at home because tending the sails on the windmills is like sailing a ship — it has to be constantly watched with changing winds.

The heritage and beauty of windmills became important around 50 years ago, and today they all have a special monument status and are protected.

–– Jim Deupree

My collaborator for this post was Frank K, our superb tour guide for five days.  We toured from Brussels to Amsterdam with him, then from Amsterdam to Bruges.  In between in and around Amsterdam.  Highest recommendation.  info@holland2go.nl