News » 26.05.2026 - Why a Dutch farmer moved to California to grow orchids

What would induce someone 34 years old to pull up roots with his wife and four young children in tow and move more than 5,000 miles away to start fresh? Moreover, what qualities would it take for such an individual and his son to build, in just 20 years, the third largest orchid growing operation in the U.S. with more than 4 million plants sold each year?

In 1978, Joop Overgaag, a greenhouse farmer in the Netherlands, made a transcontinental journey to Carpinteria. His son Toine (pronounced twan, as in swan) described this move as a means for his father to assert his identity and chart his own path in life. The years following the close of World War II were a baby boom period, even more so in the Netherlands, it would appear, than in America. "My father was the ninth of ten children," Toine confided, "and in such a large family, especially when other families of a similar size surrounded him, he developed a strong desire to stand out and chart his own path. Still, some of his countrymen had already come to Southern California, so there was a community of compatriots available here for support."

In Carpinteria, Overgaag built his first greenhouse utilizing recycled oil pipes. For 25 years, he grew roses for the cut flower market with some success, but then, in 2003, together with his son Toine, began growing orchids. too. The reason for this decision was the increasingly competitive market for cut roses, thanks to Colombia and Ecuador, where the labor cost involved in growing the world's most popular flower was considerably lower than elsewhere. This decision of the Dutch growers was prescient since growing roses for cut flowers in the U.S. became drastically reduced over the years, so that today only 2% of cut roses sold in this country are now grown domestically. This is true not only of roses but of virtually every other cut flower as well. Tulips and lilies are the exception since they are not especially labor-intensive, while Gerbera daisies must be grown locally since they are difficult to ship.

 

Source: www.floradaily.com

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