Title: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Caused a Flower Shortage - FTD.com
Headings: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Caused a Flower Shortage
How the COVID-19 Pandemic Caused a Flower Shortage
Large Supply Without Demand
Transportation Issues
Poor Weather Conditions Results in Low Flower Inventory
Can I Still Get Flowers?

Content: When the world shut down and most people stopped flying commercially, that meant there were less planes in the air delivering cargo. Thus, air and ground shipping companies were swamped more than ever delivering necessary goods to businesses and retailers. Most delivery companies made more money delivering essentials such as fruits and vegetables, which unfortunately meant that flower deliveries fell by the wayside. Ironically, it was smaller flower growers with more local delivery options with smaller, private trucking companies that found more opportunities to ship their crop than larger farms shipping stock that would require much larger trucks that just weren’t available. Poor Weather Conditions Results in Low Flower Inventory
While flowers themselves are not directly affected by the Coronavirus, they can still be negatively affected by unfavorable weather conditions. Unfortunately, 2020 and 2021 has been a poor growing season in many parts of the world that supply retailers with their flowers. South America, in particular, has experienced a colder, rainier growing season that resulted in reduced crop yields, especially for roses and carnations. Unfortunately, this weather trend brought on by La Nina is expected to continue these adverse growing conditions and still make projected flower yields smaller than usual. While flower growers and farmers alike have always had to deal with poor crop yields after a particularly harsh growing season, they at least had consistent demand for their product. After the pandemic has caused so many growers to lose huge amounts of their crop due to weather and decreased demand and subsequent loss of farms, it’s going to take a while for the world’s collective supply of flowers being grown to catch up to where it was in 2019.