Baisch & Skinner: Wholesale Floral Distributor - We Shop the World's Markets

A New Partnership --> Baisch and Skinner & MidAmerica Cargo Handlers - together bringing you MidAmerica Fresh™ flowers - a fresh approach to delivering quality

For over 50 years it has been our highest priority to deliver the highest quality products to our customers in the best condition possible, and in the quickest amount of time. New technologies have helped us along the way, and it is within our core mission that we continue to strive for ways to improve upon that core mission.

Every once and awhile something comes along and truly changes the landscape of an industry and reshapes how people conduct business. We feel that the time has arrived for the floral industry to rewrite how we care and handle the fresh flowers that we sell and take an industry-minded approach in doing whatever it takes to give the general public exactly what they want – a longer lasting flower. 

Years ago, when flowers from South America first started arriving into the United States, everything entered the country from the most southern port of entry - Miami. While that made sense at the time, mostly due to the fact that planes were just not built for longer flights, it has since remained the main port of entry for forthcoming perishable shipments into North America since. The amount of volume being flown into Miami each and every day has continued to increase over the years and the care in which these perishable items should be given is just not feasibly possible anymore. Congestion has resulted, and long delays in moving these time-sensitive perishables through the channel of distribution has materialized. As a result, these quality products that are being grown in South America are being negatively affected by an overcrowded airport. The other side of the story is that products are then trucked (or worse yet, flown via one of the commercial shippers in non-refrigerated vessels) throughout the United States and Canada, taking precious days off the life of each flower due to excess shipping times and the cold chain being broken.

Large floral buyers in the Midwest have gotten together and decided to take matters into their own hands. By collectively working together with a strategically positioned airport, full flights of perishable flowers are now being flown in directly from Bogotá, Colombia into St. Louis MidAmerica Airport each and every week. MidAmerica Cargo Handlers, LLC, the company responsible for these flights, is achieving success by focusing on several important improvements in the shipping of perishable goods from South America:

1) Faster to Market - With direct flights from Bogotá, Colombia to St. Louis MidAmerica Airport (located in Mascoutah,IL), flowers arrive within two days of being cut at the farm in Colombia and Ecuador. Products bypass Miami, arrive into the middle of the Continental United States, and receive instant cold chain handling before being loaded into refrigerated trucks. At that point, products are shipped throughout the Midwest on much shorter trucking routes than from the southern most tip of Florida. St. Louis' geographical position within the country - and proximity to the Interstate Grid - results in the perfect location for virtually any market throughout the Midwest and beyond.

2) Fresher to Market - The primary factor in flower freshness is maintaining the Cold Chain from the time a flower is cut until it arrives in your cooler. Temperatures are monitored from point of origin to destination and MidAmerica Cargo Handlers, LLC, is committed to ensuring the Cold Chain is in tact the whole way! This combination of direct flights and proper cold chain management could result in as much as 7 additional days of vase life for your flowers! It also helps to reduce shrinkage due to Bentneck, dehydration, and botrytis.

The introduction of MidAmerica Cargo Handlers, LLC, the sole provider and shipper of MidAmerica Fresh™ products, has taken the industry by storm. Both the retail trade is seeing a difference, and - the best part - floral enthusiasts on the consumer level are telling a difference. At Baisch and Skinner, we are proud to be part of this revolutionary endeavor and send a majority of our flowers from South America through this revolutionary new route. The other main reason we are proud to be involved in MidAmerica Cargo Handlers, LLC, is that it seeks to improve the entire image of the floral industry by improving the products that arrive to market. By protecting the cold chain, we are creating a better product, and, in the end, everyone wins! We are committed to doing whatever it takes to improve the quality of the products we sell at Baisch and Skinner. That has been our goal since our inception in 1952, and continues to be our focus today.

So jump on board, and learn about MidAmerica Cargo Handlers, LLC, the sole provider and shipper of MidAmerica Fresh™ products!