HOMELESS SUPERMODELS: HOW TO AVOID RAISING PERFECT BUT UNWANTED FLOWERS

This conference is focused around technical issues – new technologies, new varieties, new management systems. So you grow the most perfect, efficient, advanced specimens of your crop. You’ve got a paddock full of supermodels – who’s going to give them a home? There is little attention given by most growers to growing a market, along with growing a crop. People definitely don’t need flowers. They’re nice, but not essential to life. So we have to give people reasons to buy flowers. And we have to really understand those people who will be buying our flowers – who might be very different in age, taste, behaviour and wealth to ourselves – and what they think is essential in their life. Successful growers continually persuade customers of the benefits of their products, through consumer campaigns and extensive promotional activities. They work. If we want a strong future for our industry, one that isn’t wiped out by imports and indifference, we need some of that farsightedness through our supply chain. That willingness to take on responsibility for marketing, to play on an international field, to find a home for our beautiful supermodels.