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Flower growers infrastructure investment pays dividends

LUKE De Wit didn’t mince his words when asked what underpins his operation’s productivity.

“Infrastructure, it is sort of everything,” the Burleigh Flowers General Manager explained.

“You’ve got to have the capacity to grow year-round. That’s what we have got with glasshouses and now we have the shed, we put up with Entegra, it’s a really efficient set-up here.”

Luke, his wife Steph and parents Robert and Saskia own and operate Burleigh Flowers at Silvan in Victoria’s Yarra Valley, about 40 minutes drive from the Melbourne CBD.

Burleigh Flowers supplies lilies to large-scale florists, flower markets and  wholesalers – the latter on-sell into major Australian supermarkets.

With only 3 per cent of Australia’s fresh cut flowers grown in a glasshouse system – according to the Australian Horticulture Statistics Handbook 2022/23 – the De Wit’s glasshouses provide a point of difference for their business.

The prominent glasshouses – three large, clear structures with heating and cooling –  protect the lilies at each of the operation’s three blocks, ensuring flowers for customers requiring produce every day of the year.

At the “front end” of the business is also a new shed.

Complete with a truck bay –  that doubles as a loading dock –  cool room, mezzanine floor, staff facilities and trough conveyor to transport waste – it ticks some vital boxes.

“It’s the heart of our business,” Luke said.

“We run our sales out of there, bunch flowers and make-up orders – it’s where all the trade happens.”

Describing the shed as “luxurious”, Luke said the structure’s aesthetic appeal is important as florists visit this space on their “hill runs” sourcing flowers.

But from a farm business perspective, functionality is key.

“Compared to where we used to sell flowers, out of the old shed, this is a lot better,” he said.

“Logistically, it runs a lot better and because it’s a lot more spacious, we were able to put in infrastructure before we built the shed.”

Luke and Steph are third-generation flower growers.

The couple are taking the reins of the 42-year-old business established by Luke’s grandparents Arie and Ank when they immigrated from Holland.

Seeking a fresh start and opportunity, Arie and Ank transitioned to the cut flower industry, establishing Burleigh Flowers, after working as bulb growers in Europe.

Since the start of Burleigh Flowers in 1982, the family business has evolved and now specialises in lily production.

Burleigh Flowers grows a range of varieties, including LA’s and Orientials as well as their exclusive Frilly Lilly range – this speciality offering from bulbs sourced out of Holland or New Zealand.

Luke said lilies offer value for money.

“Australian people just like them,” he explained.

“They are a nice article, with a good shelf life. The florist can buy them, and leave them on the shelf for five days, and still have a fresh bunch that consumers will get a week out of.”

The Australian fresh supply wholesale value of fresh cut flowers was $430 million in 2023, according to the 2022/23 Australian Horticulture Statistics Handbook.

But the nation is a net importer of fresh cut flowers.

For the year ending June 2023, Australia exported $9.3 million and imported $103 million worth of cut flowers, according to the Handbook.

While lilies are a “little bit protected” from import pressures –  due to the economics in flying a flower of that size –  Luke said they aren’t immune from the market forces and cost pressures imports place on the Australian flower industry.

He said it was vital Burleigh Flowers remain “lean and competitive” with countries that have lower labour costs, or other imported flowers – such as roses – to avoid customers turning away from lilies.

The De Wit’s “fixed workforce” of up to 20 people – many who’ve worked for the business for two decades or more – ensure Burleigh Flowers runs a cost effective and productive operation per labour unit.

Innovation and infrastructure investments also help Burleigh Flowers compete in the global market, by delivering constant growth and improvement to the way they grow lilies.

“We like to be at the forefront of technological advancements, it’s important,” Luke said.

“In Australia, it all stems from Holland, we’ve piggy-backed off their innovations.”

One such innovation is the ‘LilyMatic’ , a semi-automatic lily planting machine.

Sourced from Holland, the machine stores and drills bulbs while moving along an imaginary line of a laser system.

For Burleigh Flowers, this machine has delivered fast and ergonomic lily bulb planting.

But for Luke, technology like this – and the farming life – is what keeps him motivated.

And just like the glasshouse infrastructure that underpins Burleigh Flowers’ productivity – it’s pretty clear that there’s more innovation to come from the De Wit family and the lilies.

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