| When you purchase cut flowers from your local | | | | in flower research. Their scientists try to find ways |
| florist, do you think about where they came from? | | | | to lengthen a flower's vase life. They also try to |
| Common sense might tell you that they were grown | | | | strengthen flowers to prevent them from being |
| close by, because cut flowers can't survive a very | | | | damaged while traveling on rough roads and to |
| long trip. The reality, though, is that your cut flowers | | | | strengthen flowers' natural fragrance. |
| might come from places like the Netherlands, | | | | Despite Holland's dominance of the flower market, |
| Ecuador, or Kenya! | | | | there are many places with a better climate for |
| Flowers can now travel long distances thanks to air | | | | growing flowers, and the climate of Ecuador is almost |
| freight and high-tech cooling systems. Even the most | | | | perfect. Mauricio Davalos is the man responsible for |
| delicate orchid can be shipped to arrive fresh in most | | | | starting Ecuador's flower industry some 20 years ago. |
| places on Earth. This allows Americans, for example, | | | | "Our biggest edge is nature," he claims. "Our roses |
| to import some 70 percent of the cut flowers they | | | | are the best in the world." With predictable rainy |
| buy. | | | | periods and 12 hours of sunlight each day, Ecuador's |
| The country that exports the most cut flowers is | | | | roses are renowned for their large heads and long |
| the Netherlands, which dominates the world | | | | stems. The flower industry has brought employment |
| cut-flower trade. There, seven auction houses handle | | | | opportunities and a stronger economy to regions of |
| about 60 percent of the world's cut-flower exports. | | | | the country. "My family has TV now. There are |
| Some auction houses are very large indeed -- | | | | radios. Some people have remodeled their houses," |
| Aalsmeer, near Amsterdam, is an auction house in | | | | says Yolanda Quishpe, 20, who picked roses for four |
| the sense that Tokyo is a city or Everest a | | | | years. |
| mountain. Its scale is daunting. About 120 soccer | | | | In recent years, local growers in Ecuador have faced |
| fields would fill its main hangar, which holds five | | | | growing competition from greenhouses built by major |
| auction halls. Nineteen million cut flowers are sold here | | | | international companies. Despite this, Davalos feels |
| on an average day. | | | | that the world cut-flower trade is large enough to |
| The Netherlands is also a world leader in developing | | | | allow both high-tech international companies and |
| new flower varieties. Dutch companies and the | | | | smaller national growers to succeed -- at least for |
| government invest a considerable amount of money | | | | the time being. |