Examining the realities of being a flower farmer

When people picture a flower farm, they may imagine quiet and colourful fields. But the reality behind running a commercial flower operation is far more complex. Urban Farm Girl and Co. owner Aliana Slot recently shared what goes into running a small-scale flower farm. “When people think of a flower farm, they think, ‘Oh, that’s really cute. That’s so quaint,'” Slot said. “They just think that I’m playing with flowers.”

Speaking to guests during the Township of Langley’s annual agriculture tour, this year called Township in Bloom, Slot shared the challenges behind running a flower operation.

“This is a commercial operation with real inputs, real labour costs, real logistics, and real market reach,” she said. The farm supplies to the United Flower Growers auction in Burnaby, local florists, wholesalers, and customers across Canada and the United States.

The family-run farm has continued to grow since rebuilding its operation after leaving a Delta property four-and-a-half years ago. Last year, the farm planted about 15,000 plants and shipped 116,000 stems. Slot described how affordable automation could help small farms improve efficiency, especially when it comes to labour-intensive tasks such as weed management.

“The technology exists. There are machines that use lasers to identify and eliminate weeds with precision, and they are remarkable. But they are over $500,000 and out of reach for a farm of our size.”