October 2018
One of the things that I absolutely love about AWCA are the planned excursions. Excursions are held very often and as a member, all you need to do is sign up to join in on the fun.  Â
Another new member, Caroline, and I met up with the other AWCA members at Royal FloraHolland. Royal FloraHolland is the largest international trading platform for plants and flowers. The total area of Royal FloraHolland Aalsmeer is the size of 242 football fields! As you walk through the distribution center, you smell beautiful fresh flowers and feel a chill from the cold storage.Â
The distribution center is run like a fine oiled machine and the equipment drivers follow a methodical pattern. Please click on the link below to see exactly what I am talking about.
[https://youtu.be/PGBa-UyAQdU]
Bidding and preparing the flowers for auction starts at 6:00 A.M. There are more than 120,000 transactions per day consisting of 5,550 suppliers, 2,465 customers, and 2,636 employees. 35 auction clocks are set up in the room where bidding occurs. The picture below was taken much later in the morning when the majority of bidding had already occurred. Â
Also, there are 40,000 different varieties of flowers and plants. 33 million flowers and plants are sold per day. 3.2 billion roses are sold per year, which is the highest selling flower. Â
I had a great time at Royal FloraHolland with the AWCA members!
Anchored in Amsterdam 