Paula, Mill Pond Flower Farm
Research and Development
If we want our industry and businesses to progress and develop, we need to invest time and resources in research and development. Dutch suppliers and big businesses do this as a matter of course, but their findings are often not relevant to small scale growers. To get information that can help us to plan, develop and improve our products and our businesses we need to set our own agenda, to decide what is researched, tested and trialled, how the results are shared and work with others to roll out new developments.
In the UK there is no Industry Body for flower growers, which can be seen as an advantage (no administrative obstacles) but also a disadvantage (no route for funding or responsibility for development) but it means that very little research has been done on small scale flower growing in the UK. There is a National Cut Flower Centre for England, based in Lincolnshire but its work does not impact significantly on small scale cut flower growers.
A couple of years ago I approached the Scottish Government on behalf of Flowers from the Farm members to ask them to support our growth and development. Work with Scottish Enterprise showed that there was little known about the scale, impact and possibilities of Scottish flower growers and they agreed to fund a small study. That study led to a facilitated seminar and a group of growers are currently being supported to develop and trial grower to florist systems to try and get our flowers more easily to market.
Practical steps you can take:
Join Flowers from the Farm in the UK, or your national flower farmer network in your own country
Let your MP or representative know what you do and ask them to involve you in consultation on national developments
If you think of a good idea or project that would help with flower farming, approach someone with it. Start a conversation, you don’t know where it will end up!
Approach your growing and business development in a methodical way, keep good notes and records
Join in trials and research projects if they are offered
Test new varieties and plants and share your results with others
Test different ways of growing plants for cutting
Share new ways of working and growing methods
Subscribe to free horticultural and floristry updates where available
Follow industry bodies on social media and keep an eye on new
developments, disease warnings, etc.Collaboration
Competition or Collaboration?
If you read about getting on in business, you’ll usually find that there’s a great concentration on beating your ’competitors’. You need to be better, smarter, cheaper than other organisations in the same business. This kind of language creates an oppositional approach and would encourage antagonism and aggression towards other flower farmers. It’s easy to feel threatened by people working in the same industry as yourself, particularly if there is a limited local market that you are both targeting.
You can take a collaborative approach instead, it’s a choice about how you want to work. I’ve always encouraged other flower farmers in an active way. I run Introduction to Flower Farming workshops, share information on forums and support flower growers by email and phone. I think that the more flower farmers there are, the more attention we’ll all get and the industry can grow and develop taking us all with it. If my business is strong and my customers well served, Mill Pond Flower Farm will be fine.
When I first started growing for sale there were 3 other growers in Scotland and I’ve worked with others to increase that number. We now have over 70 members of Flowers from the Farm in Scotland. What that gives us is strength in numbers, shared experience and diversity, all positive attributes that have enabled us to approach government for assistance and raise the profile of flower growers with the general public. On our own we would have got nowhere fast, but together we can get along, have company and support from each other and go further.
Working with others can take you further
The UK cut flower industry has grown and developed in the past 7 years in a way that no one would have ever predicted. The only reason for this is the extent of collaboration between small scale flower growers facilitated by Flowers from the Farm, promoting British grown flowers together. On our own we could have raised awareness in a minor way in our local area, but there is no way that British grown flowers would have been across the whole of the BBC for a week in May 2018, and in the press numerous times throughout the year, including photos of the Queen with Flowers from the Farm members on the stand at RHS Chelsea. It’s all about working together!
If you and your business are part of something bigger, you benefit in many ways:
Support and camaraderie.
Practical help and support.
Advice and help with problemsolving.
A platform for approaching statutory organisations.
Greater visibility.
Pooled resources and expertise.
Opportunities to link with other businesses and suppliers.
There’s always a demand on your time and energy but in my experience, investment in collaborative work always repays with interest.
When considering collaboration, there are a few questions you should ask:
Do you like the people? If you’re going to be spending time with them and linking your business to another, you need to know you can get along with them.
Do their values align well with your own? If you feel uncomfortable with a collaborator’s key values and beliefs you won’t be committed to your work together.
What can you gain from this collaboration? The benefits are rarely seen in monetary terms but you should be able to see a positive outcome for you and your business.
What can you offer to the collaboration? The more you’re able to contribute, the more you will get from the experience. If you feel you’re a ‘junior’ partner or are just setting out, don’t worry about that, just be sure you’re going to be able to play a role that helps to make it all work effectively. The lessons in Module 5: Managing Customers and Suppliers provide some additional guidance in how to approach collaborations and develop clear understandings with those you work with.
In the past few years we’ve collaborated in the following:
Paula:
Gardening Scotland stands
Wedding Photoshoot
Horticultural Society Shows
Approaches to Scottish Government
Project development with Scottish Enterprise Conference design, development and delivery
Floral installation in central Edinburgh
Flowers from the Farm management and development
Claire:
Writing a book
Wedding Photoshoots
Florist workshops
Organised and delivered bulk buys
Hampton Court Flower show team displays
Carol:
Flowers from the Farm stands at regional flower shows
Worked with florists on a display for RHS Chelsea flower show (and
supplied flowers)
Collaborated on several workshops including with Emma Bridgewater
Worked with florists on their own events
Group buys in Flowers from the farm local region
Local garden society and annual show
Looking outside our industry
Flower growers and florists tend to focus their attention on flowers. We’re always concentrating on how to sell what we grow, trends in retail, systems and processes, new technology for small businesses. On the whole, that’s not a problem so long as we don’t forget to look up from time to time and take advantage of the great work that other industries are doing. Just because a workshop, seminar or book isn’t aimed at flower growers doesn’t mean it isn’t relevant.
Ben Hartman, author of The Lean Farm is a great example of this approach. He took work done on efficiency in the motor manufacturing sector and applied it to small scale farming. We’re now applying the same principles to artisan flower farming. We just have to look at the basics of the message and how it might be relevant to our own work.
A couple of years ago I went to a seminar by John Stanley, a global retail guru. John Stanley is a global retail consultant who specialises in Garden Centres and visited Scotland in 2017 as a guest of the Horticultural Trades Association. Although flower growers aren't garden centres (obviously!) we do share some common ground in that we deal in perishable goods and non- essential items. So, attached is an edited-for-flower-growers version of John Stanley's words of wisdom for the next few years.
Technology
We can love and/or hate technology, but it’s part of our lives and we need to make it work for us. There are lots of machines we don’t even think about until they break (washing machines, computers, cars) and then we realise how dependent on them we are.
Robotics and nanotechnology is currently the cutting edge of development in manufacturing and production. It may not seem relevant to you as you stand in a polytunnel in the rain planting seeds you saved from last season’s crop, but staying in touch with developments in technology is an essential part of your ‘job’ as a flower farmer.
You don’t have to invest and adopt everything new that comes along. However, if you’re serious about efficiency and having a good work/life balance, it could make the difference between making a profit (and therefore staying in business) and losing money. Simple computer programmes can save a huge amount of time and improve the image of your business.
I now use WAVE app for invoicing which is quick, easy and looks very professional.
I use Mailchimp to manage contacts and easily contact my wholesale customers
I have a quad bike to moving flowers, compost, weeds, plants around the flower farm
I promote my flowers using a smartphone, taking pictures or video and posting immediately onto social media
None of these are seen as groundbreaking technology any longer but mean that I save time and money, and do a better job.