Dealing with COVID-19, supplying a new crop (spray roses & roses), and celebrating the 10th anniversary. For Valley Springs, it has been a hectic year, but an exciting one to say the least. For the fifth time, this Colombian farm, that is known for its hydrangea's, received their Rainforest Certificate and are pleased and proud with where they stand today. "As a company we learned that no matter how difficult the circumstances are, if we work together as a team, we will always find solutions," says Carolina Sanchez, Marketing Manager at the Valley Springs.
Dealing with COVID-19
"The firsts two weeks of lockdown (from March 16th to March 30th) were a bit scary because we didn't know how the market was going to behave because the majority of events were cancelled," she explains, when looking back at the start of the pandemic. Fortunately, after two weeks, the floral market improved and this helped them to save all their employees jobs. "Even though we had to send some employees home, to oblige with the new rules that stated only employees who were not at risk for pre-existing diseases and with essential tasks were eligible to continue working during the pandemic. We were able to continue paying them as usual (on time and without reducing salaries), we continued paying our employees retirement plan and their healthcare coverage." On top of that, they gave groceries to some families that are vulnerable due to COVID-19.
New Crop - roses
Valley Springs is based in the United States, with cooler locations in Miami, Fl, and known for their hydrangea production in Rionegro Valley in Medellin, Colombia. Recently, they started to supply spray roses that are grown by growers in Bogotá, Colombia and Quito, Ecuador. "We've made an alliance and these spray roses come standard and premium."
Flowers on display at Colombia Fashion week
Besides dealing with the impact of COVID-19 at the farms as well as on commercial level, Valley Springs decided to continue investing in bringing their flowers to the attention of the consumers. In Colombia, for example, they were part of Especia & Alma Rosa (a Nonprofit organization dedicated to support breast cancer awareness) online show in Colombiamoda 2020 that took place from July 27 to August 2. "Our flowers were showcased alongside the invitations for the guests."
10th Anniversary
Valley Springs have been operating since April 2010 and therefore is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. In April, there was no time for a celebration, with the restrictions and no guarantees that events will resume this year, they decided to celebrate it in a different way. "We decided to do a rebranding of our logo and a relaunch of our website."
Looking forward to the coming months
The last couple of months were challenging. "The extreme rain damaged some of our crops, however with a lot of effort we managed to offer what the market was demanding." Nowadays the flowers of Valley Springs go to the US and Canada. "We are excited for the upcoming year, specially to be part of the Floral Distribution Conference in Doral, Florida, organized by WFF&SA; we hope to see all of our colleagues and clients reunited as an industry."
For more information:
The Valley Springs
www.thevalleysprings.com