Hort 335 Reading Assignments

Part 1:  Please review the AIFD guide to design as indicated in the tentative schedule.  You will have the opportunity to initial a sheet indicating that you have done that.

Part 2:  Please find information on a current event, as identified in class discussion, and investigate how it influences the floral industry.  After investigating, please hand write your review as indicated below.

(sample article review)
Student Name:  Basuza Faloou
Hort 335 Flower Arr section 2   Date:  23 April, 2010
Article Review number 1    Current Event:  Pharmaceutical industry
Subject:  Dutch cultivation of daffodils in sea shells-Article title:  Dutch flower growers aim to keep pace with the times
URL or Magazine information:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070423/sc_nm/dutch_flowers_dc_2
Author:  Foo Yun Chen dated:  Sun Apr 22 2007, 9:42 PM ET
This is a link from Reuters news service via yahoo news
Daffodils are grown in large quantities in Holland, and this article explains how 60 year old grower Jaap Leenen has started producing the bulbs in a growing medium of seashells instead of soil.  He says he can keep them disease free and more productive this way, and it also makes it possible to sell the bulbs to pharmaceutical companies for other uses.  Drugs for the treatment of Alzheimers, and other maladies are being extracted from bulbs. One particular company mentioned is "Holland Biodiversity," a company that sells extracts from daffodils and other plants for medicine, cosmetics, and even food supplements.
There is money in this business.  In Holland, 17 billion euros worth of horticulture products were exported in the year 2005, about a quarter of that in cut flowers alone.  That equates to around 6 billion US dollars in cut flowers.  There is increasing competition around the world for sales, though, and many other countries can produce similar products for less because of lower labour costs, and different climate and seasons that make it possible for them to sell when there aren't products available from Holland.  I thought it was interesting that some Dutch growers have gone to other parts of the world and now compete with their countrymen back in Holland.  The strength of the Euro against the dollar has also hurt the export business, since fewer people are willing to pay more for the dutch products.