FIELD TRIP BY BRUCE WRIGHT


EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Women make up 60 percent of the workforce at Flores de Serrezuela, in keeping with the Colombian fl oriculture industry overall — a statistic that has eff ectively changed the social dynamic in rural areas, by giving women the opportunity to become wage earners. All photos taken in Fall 2019.


SUSTAINING A QUALITY WORKFORCE


> Faced with plummeting demand, many flower farmers worldwide have had to lay off workers — even as they struggle to maintain their investment in plants and infrastructure. Growers who target the traditional supply chain have been especially vulnerable to the crisis, thanks to the stay-at-home orders that curtailed business for retail florists while allowing grocery stores to keep on selling flowers. It’s all the more remarkable, then,


that Flores de Serrezuela — a Colombian farm that caters exclusively to wholesale florist customers with premium-quality carnations and roses — has managed to keep all workers on the payroll, with no


reduction in pay or benefits. But for man- aging director Ricardo Samper, treating workers well is part of a longstanding commitment to both quality and sustain- ability — priorities that go hand in hand. “We truly believe that our people


are our most important assets,” said Samper. Since the beginning of the pandemic, about 40 percent of the com- pany’s 900 employees have been put on paid leave. Others are now working in two shifts, to facilitate physical distanc- ing (which is not so much a problem in the greenhouses as in locker rooms and the dining hall). “Obviously we’ve been following


all the recommendations of the World Health Organization and local authori- ties,” Samper reported, such as requiring and providing for frequent hand washing and the use of hand sanitizer, plus daily disinfecting of all areas used by employ- ees, including for postharvest processing.


People Power In protecting employees, Flores de Serrezuela protects its substantial in- vestment in them. Having well-trained, loyal and reliable employees is a key factor in maintaining the farm’s compet- itive edge. “We have a very low rotation compared to the industry,” said Samper. The farm provides generous benefits that include subsidized lunches at the farm and even assistance with mortgage loans (70 percent of employees own ei- ther a house or land). As at most Colombian flower farms,


SMOOTH RIDE Carnations are transported from the greenhouses to the processing area via a trolley system that minimizes labor and mechanical damage.


60 percent of the workers at Serrezuela are women. Of these, roughly half are heads of household. Working mothers,


40 FLORAL MANAGEMENT | July/August 2020 | WWW.SAFNOW.ORG


in particular, appreciate a policy that combines steady, year-round work with flexibility in taking time off for family matters, like meeting with a child’s teacher. Typically, labor accounts for more


than half the cost of running a flower farm in Colombia. The sector is directly responsible for about 140,000 jobs. Some farms have resorted to cutting hours for their employees, according to Samper, from 48 hours a week to 30, with a proportional reduction in pay, if not benefits. Early on, it was clear that the pan-


demic would pose a formidable threat to Colombia’s floriculture industry. Growers saw fixed orders to international markets (including Italy, Korea and Japan, as well as the U.S.) drop by 80 percent. Colombia’s trade association for flower growers and shippers, Asocolflores, responded quickly to the crisis, advo- cating with the government to ensure that flower farms could continue to operate, and promoting safety measures to protect workers all along the chain, in cooperation with local authorities. “Asocolflores has been a critical


factor for us,” Samper affirmed, adding that he hopes growers who have not previously supported Asocolflores as dues-paying members will now see the value of a strong and proactive national association.


Quality vs. Commodity About 80 percent of Colombian cut- flower exports go to the U.S.; of these, the majority are sold at grocery stores and through other channels of the mass


PHOTOS BY BRUCE WRIGHT


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