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| Top Ten Cuttings Producers of 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The largest cuttings producers share their optimism and a bit of realism about 2013. The recent acquisition of Ecke Ranch by the Agribio Group — which already owns number one cuttings producer Fides Oro — won’t impact our Top 10 Cuttings Producer rankings until next year. But adding the 95,000,000 cuttings Ecke produced this year to Fides Oro’s more than one billion will further cement its place as the top cuttings producer. This continues the industry trend toward consolidation; in 2011, Agribio purchased Guatemalan cuttings producer Oro Farms, creating Fides Oro. The combined output of cuttings topped one billion for the first time.
There was some other shifting among the ranks. Selecta Klemm increased cuttings production by 23 million in 2012, moving up one into the number four spot. Because Innovaplant reduced production by 5 to 10 million this year, dropping from number eight to number ten, Florexpo moved into the number eight position and GGG Grüenwald into number nine. New Products, Crops and Technologies
Managing Director Perry Wismans says Dümmen’s Great Balls of Fire series will breathe new life into the ivy geranium market because of its heat tolerance. In addition, “The new Aloha Kona calibrachoa series is getting great reviews from trial stations,” he says. “This series is more compact than your regular calibrachoa and can therefore be grown with less PGRs.”
Ball FloraPlant continues its line of Genesis direct-stick callused cuttings. Argyranthemums, bracteantha, geranium, osteospermum and scaevola are available this way. In addition, Ball FloraPlant will be opening a new facility in Nicaragua and is contract growing in Israel. “Our reasons for both include climate, upgrades in production facilities and efficiencies and available labor and logistics,” says Allan Davidson, general manager for Ball FloraPlant
Challenges Ahead Of course there are the rough spots to be worked through, and the list of challenges is a familiar one. “Increasing costs of energy, inflation in production countries, exchange rates and generally trying to keep costs per unit under control,” says Selecta’s Per Klemm when asked what challenges this year will bring. Ball Flora Plant’s Davidson puts it more simply. “Rising production costs.” Wismans says last year Dümmen introduced its True Grower Guarantee, a new insurance policy for growers, which put extra pressure on the company’s off-shore farms and rooting partners. However, Dümmen is doing it again, because it ended the season with close to 100 percent order fill. “Offering distinctive products, reliability of supply and being easy to do business with,” is Fides Oro’s challenge according to Schermer. Fernando Altmann Weston, production manager for Florexpo, says keeping up with new introductions and evaluating which ones will be successful is something they are always working on.
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