Sunny Hill Flowers: Dutch delights give couple a winning edge
BRAINSTORMING new ideas has paid off handsomely for a Dutch flower-growing couple, writes JAMES WAGSTAFF.
A DASH of Dutch courage, a dose of innovation and a truckload of passion.
It’s a recipe that’s proving a blooming financial success for flower growers Rob and Mariske de Wit in the rolling foothills of the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne.
In a little over 20 years, the de Wits have transformed a humble family flower-growing business at Silvan into a multi-million dollar vertically integrated company that now produces up to six million stems of specialist lillies and Dutch iris annually and employs up to 17 workers.
The Dutch natives, who moved to Australia in the late 1990s, work on the theory that creating opportunities, and capitalising on them, leads to significantly better farmgate returns.
They have introduced state-of-the-art, labour-saving technology to the business, which trades as Sunny Hill Flowers, carried out extensive research and development to determine the best varieties and identified and fostered key lucrative markets. These efforts have led to a significant jump in production in recent years.
In 2016 the De Wits doubled the size of their climate-controlled glasshouse, bringing their area of protected cropping to more than 5ha, meaning they can supply a more consistent quality of flower year round and capitalise on lucrative out-of-season prices.
Rob and Mariske put their success down to simply creating a point of difference.
“Because we entered the lilly market when there were quite a few producers around already, we had to do something different,” Rob said.
“We are always looking for new things.”
LAND OF OPPORTUNITY
IT was during a stint backpacking in 1994 that Rob, a descendant of Dutch bulb growers dating back to the early 1900s, realised the opportunities on offer in Australia. So in 1996 he packed his bags and made the move, working for 12 months on his uncle’s flower farm at Silvan.
He was soon joined by his brother and together they bought the farm from their uncle on which they started growing bulb flowers such as alstroemerias, iris and eventually lillies.
Rob’s brother had returned home by the time Mariske, a chemical engineer by trade, arrived in Australia from Holland in 1998 to do a year’s work placement at Monash University. She and Rob married in 2000 and together they worked the original farm until an opportunity came up in 2006 to expand and buy a new block of land down the road.
They spent three years planning and developing the site. In 2011 they built a warehouse and the first stage of a glasshouse on it.
Production quickly increased. In 2015 they began planting outdoor flower crops, including peony roses, and in 2016 doubled the size of their glasshouse.
The de Wits now have about 5.2ha of protected production, including the 2.02ha glasshouse, a similar area of heated plastic greenhouse and 1.2ha of greenhouse with no heating. In addition there is about 1.2-1.6ha of outdoor production and a packaging shed of 2000 sq m.
Lillies account for about 80 per cent of production with a strong focus on speciality and seasonal varieties.
The rose lilly — which is pollen-free, boasts 18-20 petals and is likened to a water lilly — is the main niche variety. Other varieties include oriental lillies, OT hybrids and longi florum.
Rob travels back to Holland every two years to attend trade shows and source the latest varieties. The de Wits have developed close relationships with Dutch bulb growers, which gives them access to the latest varieties. Every year they trial 20-30 varieties “and generally if you’re lucky you get one good one”.
GROW FOR IT
IT takes about three months for the lillies to grow — a significant time when you consider they last only 10-14 days once picked.
The de Wits’ aim is for “a nice steady production” year round, with supplies ramping up for peak demand periods of Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Christmas.
All bulbs are imported. They generally come from the Netherlands from February to October and places such as Chile or New Zealand or Tasmania during the southern hemisphere bulb-growing season.
Under licensing rules, bulbs are only allowed to be used once.
Production methods vary from farm to farm and environment to environment.
Outdoor plantings and in the unheated plastic farms are carried in the soil, which Rob described as “beautiful red dirt”. In the heated environments, all bulbs are planted into crates into a potting mix-type soil that is sterilised and recycled from one planting to the next.
The sterilisation process involves water being brought to the boil and 120-130C steam being pumped into a steam room of freshly harvested crates. Temperatures in the centre of the crates are kept at 70C for half an hour. The same crates get used again the next day for planting.
Sometimes organic material is added to the mix before the new plantings go in. Two years ago the De Wits conducted a trial comparing new soil and soil that had been recycled since 2011. It found better production from the recycled soil.
CONDITION SCORE
MARISKE said the area around Silvan was ideal for flower growing due to temperatures and water availability.
After planting, the crates spend two weeks in a cool room with temperatures set at 10-11C. By this stage the bulbs have produced a small sprout and they then enter the glasshouse, which is heated by warm water running through pipes. Overnight temperatures are kept at a minimum 16-17C with windows automatically opening and closing to heat and cool the conditions.
A weather station situated on the roof of the greenhouse measures light, wind and temperatures and adjusts the conditions accordingly. Rob relies heavily on technology and receives alarms on his smartphone if there are issues.
Plants on the original farm are watered by drip irrigation, while those in the glasshouse are watered by overhead sprinklers generally only once a week. Water is collected as rainwater from the glasshouse roof, stored in a dam and recycled as much as possible.
During the growing period, small amounts of slow-release fertiliser are added to the plants, with fertigation only carried out if issues such as crop colouring require adjustment.
When it comes to eliminating the threat of pests and disease, the de Wits conduct a weekly scouting of plants.
The scout has GPS mapping on his smartphone with any issues addressed by localised spot spraying, which Rob says has the potential to half chemical usage.
Efficiencies are very important to the de Wits and they invest heavily in labour-saving technology “to replace backbreaking work”. Stacking, unstacking and emptying out of the crates is also done by machine with picking one of the few jobs carried out by hand.
BUDDY SYSTEM
FLOWERS are ready when the bud starts showing colour but before it cracks. The business employs about 15-17 workers, including seasonal staff, with shifts during summer generally 6am-3pm and winter 7.30am to 4.30pm.
At harvest, workers manually put the lillies in five-stem bunches and the iris in 10-stem bunches.
A machine then cuts, binds, and de-leafs them before they are manually inserted into sleeves.
The de Wits aim at the top end of the florist market with flowers sold through wholesalers.
Melbourne and Sydney are the major markets, but Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Cairns are also significant.
The de Wits budget on only about 2-3 per cent of flowers not making the top grade.
Rob said the price mark-ups from producer to consumer were generally 100 per cent “and very often, when we look at the shops, it’s triple”.
Strong and light pink flowers are in particular demand, especially for weddings. While the different varieties are more labour intensive they generally attracted a 30-50 per cent premium to the traditional lines.
Rob said lillies were a good product for the Australian market with consumers generally getting two weeks from them.
FLIGHT FRIGHT
THE de Wits see rising cheap imports as one of the biggest threats to the flower industry in Australia.
“They’re shipping them in by jumbo jet from overseas, from everywhere — Colombia, Ecuador, Kenya, India, China, Europe,” Rob said.
“Everything can be imported in a plain sleeve and no one knows where it is coming from. It’s a big job educating the public on what is Australian and what isn’t.”
Rising electricity and gas prices are also hurting the business’s bottom line.
“The gas price in particular is ridiculous,” Rob said.
If gas prices receded “and the imports are brought a little bit to a halt” he said the business could expand further.
“At this stage it is all going well but we don’t want to put ourselves in a position where we get into trouble,” Rob said.
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