The Dutch are a huge exporter of flowers. Most of this trade happens in the Dutch Flower auctions and take place in only two towns, Aalsmeer and Eelde. Millions of flowers pass through the doors everyday! And I was lucky enough to get a look at the surface of what goes on. This time around I didn’t learn everything about the Dutch Flower auctions. But I do have a better understanding of what happens!
A few weeks ago I went with Sander’s aunt to visit a flower farm. I learned so much about Dutch flowers and found it to be an enriching experience as someone who isn’t Dutch.
So after we had made our way into the main building we took a seat in the great hall where the three auction clocks were on display. Under that were 3 main tracks. The clocks show the information about the flowers or plants coming in on each track. The auctioneers bid on the carts and the plants on them. I found a perfect video to explain this information. And there’s a lot of it! You can find this video here on the Royal FloraHolland Youtube channel.
After that we traveled downstairs and watched the “plant train”. Loaded carts make their way onto the rails and pushed out one by one. It’s a fast process and takes place from 6am to 10am every weekday. It was amazing to see the process. The insider who took us was the same Flower farmer friend. We waited while she watched her plants loaded up and sold right there! It was fun to watch and easy to understand how the Dutch have been doing it for so many years. They have it down to a streamlined and easy method! If you’d like to read more about the you can visit the Royal FloraHolland website!
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