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Extra Features and Video Online FloristsReview.com R E A D O N L I N E 53 B usinesses of all sizes are grappling with persistent supply-chain issues fi rst disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and exacerbated by infl ation and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. To deal with product shortages and shipping delays, many companies are trying to beef up inventories and wooing backup suppliers before prices rise even higher and to help close the gaps when shortages arise. Product shortages and shipping delays—and associated price hikes due to increases in the costs of materials and labor, as well as growing demand— have been no strangers to companies in recent years, thanks to international tariff s. What had been an exercise in effi cient materials distribution, though, morphed into a full-scale crisis with the arrival of COVID-19 and its eff ect on labor shortages, bottlenecked ports and shuttered production facilities. In the international fl ower industry, when much of the world went into lockdown because of the pandemic in 2020, many fl ower farmers were forced to discard their crops, and, in 2021, because of an uncertain future, they scaled back planting new crops. e eff ects of those actions are still rippling through the industry today. Second, poor weather conditions in South America and droughts in California have further decreased crop yields. And now, in 2022, with weddings and events again being scheduled in large numbers, the demand for many types and colors of cut fl owers often outpaces the supply. Compounding all this are shipping delays, which often result in highly perishable products languishing past their prime in coolers at airports or in warehouses. e hard-goods segment of the fl ower industry, from manufacturing to wholesale distribution, is dealing with the same supply-chain challenges as virtually every other industry, causing shortages and shipping delays of necessary products for retail fl orists and their suppliers. Businesses are bolstering inventories and locating backup suppliers to deal with product shortages and delivery delays in the wake of continuously rising prices. By Phillip M. Perry

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