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1/2FlowerTECH2005, vol. 8/no. 430 www.HortiWorld.

New gladioli fields willharvest in Dutch off-season

Bulbs

Even though the HolambraCoop has become famous

chiefly for its flower pro-

duction and auction it wasnt

always like that; the group of

Dutch emigrants that went to

Brazil in the 1950s started out

with field crops. Back in 1959,

Mr. Klaas Schoenmaker began

planting the gladioli bulbs that

he had brought over from The

Netherlands. The initiative was

met with scepticism by many,

including the coop leader at

the time, for the predominant

thought in those days was that

one could only make a living

out of food crops.

The success was such that

three generations later orna-

mental crops are still a big part

of the family businesses, which

became a number of diversified

agricultural activities, and flow-

ers are the main business in

town. Gladioli production

peaked in the 70s when it

reached the landmark 11 mil-

lion dozen/year, then the fami-ly started diversifying to differ-

ent flowers. Another spur came

in the 80s when there was a

shortage of bulbs imported

from the US. Importers turned

to Brazil and found out that

the local bulbs had more

vigour, they were more round-

ed and taller within the same

size class, which meant more

volume and ultimately bigger

flowers.

Mechanization limitationSince the 70s the Schoenmaker

gladioli bulb production,

nowadays known as Terra Viva

and sold under the trade mark

Brasbonitas, was concentrated

in the town of Casa Branca,

120 km to the north of

Holambra and at a higher ele-

vation. The traditional season

has been planting from March

to May, and harvesting inOctober/November. These fresh

bulbs supply the internal mar-

ket and generate basic material

for future fields. A major draw-

back however was that exports

coincided exactly with the

Dutch harvest, so the goal was

to shift the crop timing to fetch

better prices.

This would have been possi-

ble in places at higher eleva-

tions but the need to mecha-

nize the extensive bulb fields

had prevented such areas from

being used. Their terrain was

too hilly for irrigation pivots

for example, so in order to

keep production costs down

farming ended up restricted to

elevations of up to 700 m, in

relatively flat and mechaniz-

able plots and that in turn lim-ited their cultivation season.

Whats more once the pivots

were in place food crops were

cultivated in the gladioli off-

season, thus helping pay for

itself.

New regions exploredIn the last years, however, dif-

ferent regions in Brazil have

been tested for their climate

and other production factors.

The one that came out winning

was the town of Itapetininga,

210 km to the south of

Holambra, still in So Paulo

state. Paco van der Louw, a

Dutchman himself, has been

managing the gladioli produc-

tion for the Terra Viva for two

years now. He outlines the new

regions main advantages:

Cooler summer, better rain

distribution throughout the

year and disease-free soil. Weeven thought of going to the

south of Brazil to grow in a dif-

ferent season, but logistics

would be more complex since

all bulb sorting and grading is

still done in Holambra. So this

turned out to be a great com-

promise.

Its slightly more southern

location together with the 650

m elevation allows two plant-

ings in the year: one in

January/February that is har-

vested in June/July, the second

planting in July is harvested th

next January. The very first

gladioli bulbs from

Itapetininga were lifted last

January, and the clients

approved it. So now the Casa

Branca fields will be kept at

around 40 ha, and the newplace should have around 35

ha in the first planting and 20

ha in the second. The market

will tell if and when we should

increase, last year we grew 10%

in acreage. Regardless we will

carry on producing from both

locations so we have fresh

bulbs three times a year. Few

other regions in the world hav

a January bulb harvest, contin

ues Paco.

Flowers all yearProduction of the gladioli

flower remains in the town of

Itobi, near Casa Branca, where

another 40 ha are cultivated.

Planting and cutting takes

place every week to maintain

flower supply during the year,

peaking in All Souls day, whe

10% of the yearly production

sold. Some 35% of the flowers

are exported, compared to 65%of the bulbs. A novelty was the

increase in flower sales to the

US on the last Chinese New

Years Day, markedly of red

flowers. The Brazilian market

prefers the one-colour varietie

mainly red or white, whereas

the US buys mostly flowers

with two or three colours.

At the Holambra auction,

Terra Viva is the only gladioli

The flower bulb that started it

all in Brazi l is growing in

acreage and sales again af ter a

lul l period.

By Mauricio Mathias

A change to aucti on sales by the stem has

helped increase gladi oli pri ces.

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Bulbs

flower and bulb supplier. A

change in sales mode has also

benefited the flower price at

the auction. For 45 years gladi-

oli have been sold by the

dozen, but since 2004 sales are

being made by the stem. That

combined with the increase in

exports, which meant reduced

internal supply, resulted in a 30

to 40% price increase. Now theauction may follow suit with

other flower species as well.

mauriciomathias@hotmail.com Gladioli f ields at two locations provide fresh bulbs three times a year.