Royal FloraHolland

Royal FloraHolland exemplifies niche partitioning and cooperative infrastructure. The world's largest flower auction, housed in a 12 million square foot building near Amsterdam, auctions 20 million flowers and 2 million plants daily, controlling 50%+ of global wholesale flower trade.

The key insight: FloraHolland is a cooperative owned by growers, not an extractive intermediary. It provides shared logistics, cold storage, and auction facilities that individual growers couldn't afford. Geographic specialization (Dutch tulips, Kenyan roses, Ethiopian summer flowers) and product specialization allow 5,000+ growers to coexist without direct competition. This is ecosystem engineering that benefits all participants.