Bulbs
New gladioli fields will
harvest in Dutch off-season
The flower bulb that started it
all in Brazil is growing in
acreage and sales again after a
lull period.
By Mauricio Mathias
ven though the Holambra
E Coop has become famous
chiefly for its flower pro-
duction and auction it wasnt
always like that; the group of
Dutch emigrants that went to
Brazil in the 1950s started out
with field crops. Back in 1959,
Mr. Klaas Schoenmaker began
planting the gladioli bulbs that
he had brought over from The
Netherlands. The initiative was
met with scepticism by many,
including the coop leader at
the time, for the predominant
thought in those days was that
one could only make a living
out of food crops.
A change to auction sales by the stem has
helped increase gladioli prices.
30 FlowerTECH 2005, vol. 8/no. 4
The success was such that
three generations later orna-
mental crops are still a big part
of the family businesses, which
became a number of diversified
agricultural activities, and flow-
ers are the main business in
town. Gladioli production
peaked in the 70s when it
reached the landmark 11 mil-
lion dozen/year, then the fami-
ly started diversifying to differ-
ent flowers. Another spur came
in the 80s when there was a
shortage of bulbs imported
from the US. Importers turned
to Brazil and found out that
the local bulbs had more
vigour, they were more round-
ed and taller within the same
size class, which meant more
volume and ultimately bigger
flowers.
Mechanization limitation
Since the 70s the Schoenmaker
gladioli bulb production,
nowadays known as Terra Viva
and sold under the trade mark
Brasbonitas, was concentrated
in the town of Casa Branca,
120 km to the north of
Holambra and at a higher ele-
vation. The traditional season
has been planting from March
to May, and harvesting in
October/November. These fresh
bulbs supply the internal mar-
ket and generate basic material
for future fields. A major draw-
back however was that exports
coincided exactly with the
Dutch harvest, so the goal was
to shift the crop timing to fetch
better prices.
This would have been possi-
ble in places at higher eleva-
tions but the need to mecha-
nize the extensive bulb fields
had prevented such areas from
being used. Their terrain was
too hilly for irrigation pivots
for example, so in order to
keep production costs down
farming ended up restricted to
elevations of up to 700 m, in
relatively flat and mechaniz-
able plots and that in turn lim-
ited their cultivation season.
Whats more once the pivots
were in place food crops were
cultivated in the gladioli off-
season, thus helping pay for
itself.
New regions explored
In the last years, however, dif-
ferent regions in Brazil have
been tested for their climate
and other production factors.
The one that came out winning
was the town of Itapetininga,
210 km to the south of
Holambra, still in So Paulo
state. Paco van der Louw, a
Dutchman himself, has been
managing the gladioli produc-
tion for the Terra Viva for two
years now. He outlines the new
regions main advantages:
Cooler summer, better rain
distribution throughout the
year and disease-free soil. We
even thought of going to the
south of Brazil to grow in a dif-
ferent season, but logistics
would be more complex since
all bulb sorting and grading is
still done in Holambra. So this
turned out to be a great com-
promise.
Its slightly more southern
location together with the 650
m elevation allows two plant-
ings in the year: one in
January/February that is har-
vested in June/July, the second
planting in July is harvested the
next January. The very first
gladioli bulbs from
Itapetininga were lifted last
January, and the clients
approved it. So now the Casa
Branca fields will be kept at
around 40 ha, and the new
place should have around 35
ha in the first planting and 20
ha in the second. The market
will tell if and when we should
increase, last year we grew 10%
in acreage. Regardless we will
carry on producing from both
locations so we have fresh
bulbs three times a year. Few
other regions in the world have
a January bulb harvest, contin-
ues Paco.
Flowers all year
Production of the gladioli
flower remains in the town of
Itobi, near Casa Branca, where
another 40 ha are cultivated.
Planting and cutting takes
place every week to maintain
flower supply during the year,
peaking in All Souls day, when
10% of the yearly production is
sold. Some 35% of the flowers
are exported, compared to 65%
of the bulbs. A novelty was the
increase in flower sales to the
US on the last Chinese New
Years Day, markedly of red
flowers. The Brazilian market
prefers the one-colour varieties,
mainly red or white, whereas
the US buys mostly flowers
with two or three colours.
At the Holambra auction,
Terra Viva is the only gladioli
www.HortiWorld.nl
 Bulbs

flower and bulb supplier. A

change in sales mode has also
benefited the flower price at
the auction. For 45 years gladi-
oli have been sold by the
dozen, but since 2004 sales are
being made by the stem. That
combined with the increase in
exports, which meant reduced
internal supply, resulted in a 30
to 40% price increase. Now the
auction may follow suit with
other flower species as well.

mauriciomathias@hotmail.com Gladioli fields at two locations provide fresh bulbs three times a year.

www.HortiWorld.nl FlowerTECH 2005, vol. 8/no. 4 31