Floribusiness.com is going to expand its news service for the international floricultural chain. Floribusiness is going to work with correspondents in important floriculture regions and publish a periodical digital magazine. Powered by Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij.

When Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij editors went abroad or visited trade fairs at home, they were often asked: why doesn’t Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij have an edition in English? A Canadian alstroemeria grower once told us he would read the Vakblad with the help of a Dutch-English dictionary.

At IPM in Essen, Germany, an Israeli gerbera grower mentioned once how, when he was still working with Agrexco, the most important articles of our trade journal would be translated into Hebrew. The same thing happened in Taiwan; articles were translated into Chinese. Just three examples, and there are many more. We heard similar stories in Ecuador, Colombia, Kenya and so on. There has never been an English-language edition of Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij, but clearly, we were known worldwide.

International edition
The demand for the Vakblad in English encouraged us to do ’something’ international two and a half years ago. We decided to make a modest start with an international digital edition, which was later named Floribusiness.com.

Since then, we’ve been publishing articles, items, blogs and news stories about the international floriculture sector, and since half a year, also about the international tree-nursery sector, on Floribusiness.com. We’ve been sending weekly newsletters to subscribers. And we’ve been active on social media via Twitter and LinkedIn.

Floribusiness content consisted mostly of translations of articles that we were publishing in Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij and Vakblad De Boomkwekerij. Occasionally, we would make a production especially for Floribusiness. This seemed the logical response to people’s requests for English language editions of our journals.

Different approach
Every now and again, we would use input from abroad, but all in all, Floribusiness was made by Dutch people, and from a Dutch perspective. We feel it’s time for a different approach. The Netherlands is still a very important player in the international floricultural sector when it comes to breeding activities and the production and trade of flowers, plants, bulbs and trees. No one will deny this.

But we haven’t been the only one for quite a while. Flower-producing countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Israel, China, Kenya and Ethiopia for example, can’t be ignored either. And how about pot-plant producer Denmark and the production of plants and trees in Italy, Germany, Canada and the United States? To name but a few.

The industry started expanding beyond the Netherlands a long time ago. Reporting on this global sector solely from the Netherlands and solely from a Dutch perspective, no longer makes sense. Hence our new and improved approach. Editors of our trade journals will be allocated more time for Floribusiness. The international activities will no longer be something we do on the side. Instead, they will be turned into a full-fledged product, complete with its own editorial board.

Focus on markets
The focus of Floribusiness will mostly be on the distribution markets for plants and flowers. But of course, we’ll also write about production areas, cultivation, technology and human interest. We’ll also continue with our weekly newsletters. A new addition is the digital magazine that will be published via myfloribusiness.com every other month.

To ensure this will be a truly international product, we’ll be working with correspondents in important floriculture countries across the globe. The magazine in front of you here provides a bit of a preview of what Floribusiness is planning to deliver the coming years. It contains contributions from our own editors, as well as from freelance journalists active in the United States, Denmark, Ecuador and Africa. In short: high-quality journalism with a truly international view on floriculture.

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