In December 2019, Royal FloraHolland no longer organizes a General Members' Meeting, but some sort of cooperation evening, where the board of directors, and the 42 members of the council who were sworn in during the last GMM, will give account to the members. Afterwards, it's time for beer. To get used to the format, the choice was made for some sort of in-between gathering.
The GMM will be replaced by a members council, and it appears this does the most right to the natural course of events. Maybe it has to do with the increasing complexity of the whole; maybe there is something amiss with the involvement of the members; maybe it is a conscious strategy of those who know better. In any case, no one felt called upon to be critical; there was nothing left to vote on, with the exception of a few pennies on trolleys and buckets; and the evening mainly consisted of flashy films, advertising Floriday, lots of flowers and pins, and a relatively early, but very enjoyable get-together.
Thorough
The nomination committee took no half measures in compiling the Members Council. The members are well divided across various types of company, turnover, product, and also age; a number comes from outside the Netherlands (3) and even outside Europe (4). The impression is that members have confidence in the team compiled.
Jeroen Ammerlaan (Fiore Anthurium) and Ron van den Bosch (Potplantenkwekerij Van den Bosch); Jacques Goossen (chairman RvC Royal FloraHolland) and Matthea van der Molen (Manager East Africa Royal FloraHolland); Ronalds Teerds, Mark Kuiper & Rens Buchwaldt; and Tino Rikkers (2nd on the left) together with Nitzan Mokasay, Vitoria Eliaa & Carlo Elia.
The cooperation is, with regard to the figures and prognoses for the near future, doing well. Steven Schilfgaarde has everything well under control. Floriday seems to generate traction: a quarter of the growers has joined already, Blueroots has indicated that they seek cooperation; the other dozen of initiatives remain mostly silent. Also, a single scan system at the front gate is being developed, and the entire order process for all auctions will be made uniform by implementation of one Warehouse Management System. In the coming year, an additional 10 million euros will be invested in (new and making future proof) real estate, and investments will also be made in the IT department. The balances are positive, and on the condition that Africa is not flooded, and Europe does not become a desert, a slight increase in turnover is expected.