Valentine's Flowers from Colombia

By Tad Thompson

In early February 2009, I had my first tour of Colombia's flower industry. By February 10 or so the business wraps up Valentine's Day exports because there is no more time to get to market.


Colombia's flower industry is very, very sophisticated, with production in thousands of acres of greenhouses.

The industry association, Asocolflores, has standards for ecological concerns, worker safety, dignity and rights. The welfare and education of workers' children is also a focal point. The industry leaders collect, purify and recycle irrigation water. Those who handle pesticides are professionally trained and equipped.

The harvesting and handling systems are designed to maintain quality and get fresh products to market as quickly as possible.

The flower varieties that make it to market are chosen from a breeding process that eliminates thousands of possibilities.

Flower breeders work in anticipation of what colors and textures will be popular five years down the road.

The Colombian flower industry was created from scratch in the 1960s after two men independently surveyed the world to find the best place to commercially produce flowers. They selected Colombia because of its low latitude and the high elevation of the huge plateau surrounding Bogota. The two factors yield consistent temperatures throughout the year. Bogota's greatest temperature variation is not based on the month, but the time of day. Colombia was also identified as an ideal place to produce flowers because of the close proximity to the US, with a good airport in Bogota, which has good connections to Miami.

Anti-narcotic precautions are very substantial throughout the logistics process.

Some tropical flowers are grown in Colombia's lower elevations but they represent a small part of total flower exports.

In recent years, Colombian growers expanded their flower export markets to decrease dependency -- and potential oversupply -- of the US market. Diverse international markets need flowers for many national holidays. This allows the growers to produce consistent volumes through the year, which helps employ people and lower overall production costs.

Feb. 12, 2010.

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