Horticulture News
Eastern horizons look bright for Taikoo
Three years ago, Finlay Flowers commenced work on a cut-flower project in Songming county, 57kms north of Kunming city in the Chinese province of Yunnan. Today the Yunnan Taikoo Flowers farm has a production area of 9.5 hectares, growing over 12 million stems of high quality spray and standard carnations per annum, targeting the Japanese market. Taikoo Flowers boasts modern steel structure greenhouses and supporting infrastructure including state-of-the-art fertigation and irrigation systems, cold storage, grading halls and pack house facilities. 100% of the carnations are grown on soil-less substrate, allowing the company to minimise water usage and produce consistent high-quality stems with large bud size and vibrant colours consistently.
On April 22nd, the final piece of the original project scope was formally completed, with an Official Open Day ceremony at the Taikoo Young Plants (TYP) facility. TYP is a joint venture between the Dutch breeder HilverdaKooij Plant Technology, and Taikoo Flowers. This venture has been co-funded by a Dutch government program called "PSOM" or "Cooperation with Emerging Markets Program" (in English), and is set up for the production and sales of carnation cuttings, tissue culture plants of flowers and other crops, as well as the selection of varieties for the specific Yunnan climate.
The project is focused on the production and sale of carnation cuttings as well as the breeding of flowers including limonium, alstroemeria, and gerbera. It provides a seamless connection of different systems, from seedling breeding and flower cutting, to after-harvest processing and cold storage.
A selection of local and overseas invitees joined the Open Day, including customers of both Hilverda and Taikoo Flowers from as far afield as Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. Government officials also present were the local regional Governor and a representative from the Dutch embassy in Beijing.
The continued growth of cut flower imports into Japan, paired with the unrelenting progression of the Chinese economy certainly means the future is bright for Finlays in the Far East.
