The floral industry, in 2018, has been challenged with the perfect transportation storm that resulted in rate increases and truck shortages due to driver shortages, fuel increases, overall freight tonnage increases and electronic logging device (ELD) enforcement, among other factors.
Floral leaders attending PMA Fresh Connections: Floral in Miami this year quickly identified innovation, education and collaboration as the recipe for overcoming future transportation issues. According to the USDA, investments in refrigerated facilities and technology increased the long-haul capacity for shipping fresh fruits and vegetables in 2017. This same investment and innovation are needed to address transporting floral products.
Better transport has the potential to improve not only the quality of floral product, but also to generate growth for the entire the floral industry. This begins with advocating for investment in infrastructure projects such as roads and ports, as well as advocating for innovation that requires corporate investment in infrastructure such as coolers, new technologies and new processes.
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