The new year has started, but before looking forward to what 2022 has to offer, we would like to reflect on 2021. What were the most popular topics? Which articles were best read?
So - are you ready? Here we go. Below are the best-read articles of 2021*.
The article "World’s most sold machine to make spiral bouquets", an article on the Mecaflor hand-tied bouquets machine is the article that has been most read in 2021. With this machine, it takes only 5 minutes to train a non-skilled worker to create uniform and complex hand-tied bouquets. On top of the ease, the machine increases productivity by 30% to 50% and requires little technical knowledge and maintenance. Six years ago, this French company introduced their first machine and they have quickly consolidated their position as one of the leading manufacturers of hand-tied bouquet-making machines.
On the left: Untreated Red Furiosa. On the right: OptiBoost treated Red Furiosa
Besides the interest in creating bouquets, treating flowers becomes increasingly popular as well. And the article entitled “Our treated roses lead to 50% higher gross profit and 25% lower waste” shows the popularity as it is our second best-read article of 2021. The article is about OptiCept Technologies and their patented technology and machine for the shelf life extension of roses that is called OptiBoost In this article Ulf Hagman, Executive Chairman of OptiCept, shares the positive commercial test results, how the machine works, and their goal to bring the technology to growers and more countries.
In addition, acquisitions, and particularly farm acquisitions in Ecuador have been popular. The announcement that Elite Flower acquired QualisA takes the third spot in our best articles list and the announcement that Elite Farms acquires BellaRosa Group and Brown Breeding is sixth in the list.
The impact of weather on the crop and productivity are usually also hot topics, but this year, severe weather conditions in the Netherlands in February 2021 even destroyed greenhouses. The article "Dutch greenhouses collapsed because of snow" attracted a lot of attention and so this article is the fourth best read article.
Of course, we cannot miss an article on Valentine's Day in our "Best Read articles" list. And the demand has been high. On January 25 in 2021, Mauricio Ospina of Ecuadorian rose farm EQR told us about the unexpected high demand for Valentine's Day roses which resulted in them being practically sold out. This article takes the fifth spot in our list, closely followed, on spot 8, by our article, published on February 12, in which we reflect on Valentine's Day sales for growers and wholesalers. The clear conclusion that we could draw from this article is that the demand surpassed the supply for Valentine's Day 2021.
And don't forget the popularity of houseplants, as this article: "Hoya is finding its place among the field of popular houseplants" takes the seventh spot in our list. In this article, Bill Steen of Fleurizon talks about the popularity of Hoya and the fact that the demand isn't slowing down.
Besides Valentine's Day, Women's Day is an important flower holiday and particularly in Russia. However, this year, getting the flowers to Russia has been a challenge and in this article, which takes the ninth spot in our list, Warja Abrosimova of Dekker Chrysanten told us that Russian wholesalers were worried about Women's Day shipments.
And we end this top 10 with an article on Black Tulip Flowers. In this article, they mentioned that their V- Day 2021 sales went up and they talked about their 57ha expansion in Ethiopia
Find more of our best-read articles below:
- What is going on with the current rose shortage? UK: Import of cut flowers from Kenya and Colombia up, Netherlands down
- "Certified Plastic Free plug system sets new world standard"
- Change in US flower consumption: "From holiday to everyday purchases"
- Trial shows potential of single stem marigold cut flowers for vase, bouquet use
- Ensuring the survival of Indian floriculture
- Innovative low oxygen box extends cut flower shelf life
- Study reveals most expensive houseplants sold in UK
- "Sphagnum: a sustainable alternative to peat"
- 2021 Taiwan International Orchid Expo takes place virtually
- The three major challenges for Kenya's flower industry in 2021
- Kenya: “We switched from focusing on the auction market to direct selling”
- Photo report Cultivate'21
- Schneider welcomes two new members to the team
- Florensis expands in Ethiopia
- Colombia: Bad weather, scarcity of pesticides and fertilizers, lower production
- "The demand for preserved roses has grown exponentially"
- "We are close to reach our capacity goal of treating 40,000 stems per hour"
- Photo report: IFTF 2021
- "We plan to leverage the breeding powerhouse, advanced technologies that Ball has invested in"
- "Breeding chrysanthemums in the Colombian climate brings several genetic advantages"
- German grower makes headway with own-bred summer and fall varieties
- NL: “Lack of recycled plastic causes stress in horticulture supply chain”
- High-tech rose greenhouse Rosefield completed in Armenia
- "The Ethiopian flower industry has shown remarkable growth over the past years"
- Colombia: "Mother’s Day season not affected by the protests"
- "Kenyan rose farmers watch out: False Codling Moth could stop export of roses to EU"
- Innovative vacuum container slows down aging of flowers, provides new shipping opportunities
- Sharp increase in popularity of tinted roses
- “To avoid disappointment, we sell color palettes instead of specific varieties”
- Breeding roses that are ready for climate change effects
- Decowraps launches the Eco Wrap
- CAN: Van Belle Nursery expands greenhouse space to meet rising demand
- The importance of helping independent breeders introduce new plant varieties
- "Kenya's first floating solar project installed at Rift Valley Roses"
- Photo Report: Breeders opening their doors
- Valentine's Day 2021: The day after
- Creekside Greenhouses joins forces with Bloomchampion International for new Hydrangea genetics
- Canada: “We are now using our full 240,000 sq ft expansion of orchid production”
- Benary expands its Chinese activities
*Our list contains only articles that were published in 2021, not articles that were clicked on in 2021.