Members' Council column: make sure everyone is heard

Uri Bruck is waxflower and table grape grower and owner of a farm in Moshav Lachish, Israel. He has been on the Members' Council since 1 January 2021. After a career in the high-tech sector, he decided to return to his roots: the family farm where he grew up.

Everything we do and make here on the farm is very tangible. That's what makes working in the floriculture sector so nice. However, being a farmer in Israel is a big challenge. Being an international member of Royal FloraHolland also involves challenges.
Consider the distance for a moment. There is a mental and physical gap to our sales market. That is the biggest problem. Local growers can drive to the auctions themselves. There the meet their buyers, their competitors and the auctioneers. That creates a network.

In addition to the quality flowers or plants, we like to do business with people. That creates confidence. Israel and the Netherlands are more than 4,500 kilometres apart. Nevertheless, we visit the auction regularly. During the season, I travel to the Netherlands once or twice. My days are then packed with appointments; with buyers, with auction people, with colleagues. It is always nice to see each other in real life. However, building a bond is still difficult in such a short space of time. As a non-Dutch grower, we depend on our agents and the auction staff. For them, our interest – improving our situation and solving our problems – is not always the first priority.

How do I deal with that now? I think it is important to make my voice heard. International growers should also be involved in the cooperative. That's why I became a member and later chair of RAC Israel. I then moved on to the Advisory Board and then to the Members' Council. The importance of the Members' Council, RAC and FPCs is great. Members from all sectors come together: large and small, local and international, flowers and plants. Sitting together, taking each other along and understanding both the big picture and sector-specific details helps improve the cooperative. It creates mutual trust and understanding. And that is vital when working together in a cooperative.

How do we maintain and strengthen the connection between them? The Members' Council is the best possible reflection of the membership. That does not mean we no longer have to listen to members. On the contrary! We must continue to listen to signals that reach us from our sectors. After all, as a Members' Council, we don't know everything. The petition on enforcing sustainability certification and other issues is a good example. As Members' Council members, we ensure the voices of our members are heard. We need to ensure that the interests of growers in our sector are taken into account in the decision-making process.

Right now, this is more important than ever. Royal FloraHolland is rapidly changing from auction to digital platform. That's a major transformation for many of us. How do we ensure that everyone's interests are served as effectively as possible both now and in the future? That is what the 'Together in our cooperative' project is about. And for that, we sometimes have to ask difficult questions. Why, for example, are so many products already being traded outside the cooperative? What can we do to keep more growers as well as buyers on board?

We have no influence on some issues, but there is much we can address. For example, the quality policy. We receive many signals about this from members, such as: 'It is the grower's responsibility to provide accurate information and if they don't, buyers will stop buying from these growers', 'The current quality designations do not give enough options to accurately describe the flowers (only A1 A2 and B; a wider range is needed)', 'The quality department represents the buyers more than the growers, many unjustified returns are easily approved',

'There is inconsistency in the quality indications between RFH locations', and more. This makes the auctions less attractive. Growers are going to other markets and auctions, and we are losing them. We need to look for solutions that actually ensure the auctions remain attractive.

So what is the conclusion of this story? Members: make your voice heard. And Members’ Council members: make sure you include those voices in the decision-making process. This is how we work together to ensure our cooperative evolves in line with what is needed now. And that is in everyone's interest.