The importance of new crops for Israeli floriculture.

摘要

Rapid changes are occurring in the global production of cut flowers. Owing to fast growth of production in Latin America and Africa and some intensification in Asian Countries, an increasing volume of floricultural products, mainly cut flowers, is reaching world markets. Because supply is now growing faster than demand, competition for the markets has become fiercer than ever. The Israeli industry, which entered the field 36 years ago, is based mainly on the European market. During this period, marked changes have been made in order to meet the changing demands of the market. The main trends in the Israeli industry have been: (1) increasing diversity of species and cultivars, e.g. introducing and adapting wild flowers from the southern hemisphere;and (2) introducing "European summer flowers" and forcing them to flower during winter by growth manipulation and new techniques. In addition, family production area grew from 2-4 x 1000 m2 in former years to 10000 m2 or more at present. Specializationand intensification are the current directions. With the support of Israeli production and marketing organizations and with the help of research and development, we hope that the Israeli flower industry will sustain itself into the third millennium. Thispaper deals with the importance of new flower crops for Israeli floriculture.