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Sustainable Flowers
Gains being made in accountable flower production |
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Written by Hugh McElhone
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Gains being made in accountable flower production
What is the real cost of cheap flowers? This question
was poised by the popular BBC Radio presenter, Miriam O'Reilly, during
a ‘Costing the Earth’ radio broadcast.
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Gerald Prolman, founder and CEO of Organic Bouquet, presents a bouquet of the world’s tallest roses to Mary McCluggage, the 89th Rose Queen.
Veriflora certified roses debut at 2007 Rose Parade
Billions of flowers have adorned the floats of Pasadena, California’s Rose Parade during its 117-year history, but never a rose that stands as tall as the Rose Queen herself, at least until this year.
The first certified, sustainably grown flowers ever used in Rose Parade history, made their debut at the 118th annual event, states an E-Wire press release. These magnificent red roses grow naturally to five or six feet tall, with each stem boasting a large head which opens to four inches in diameter, creating a sea of lush red rose petals.
“These spectacular roses fit perfectly with the parade’s theme, Our Good Nature,” said Gerald Prolman, founder and CEO of www.OrganicBouquet.com. “The beauty of even the most stunning flower is enhanced when it is grown in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.”
How do these roses get so big? A combination of natural factors have come together to create this extreme rose. At the equator, on an Ecuadorian farm, nestled between two
volcanoes at more than 9,600 feet, these roses enjoy days of prolonged sunlight and cool nights, which allow these super-sized beauties to flourish beyond expectation.
These natural blooms are not genetically engineered and are certified sustainably grown by Veriflora. The VeriFlora standard, introduced at UN World Environment Day in 2005, establishes procedures for verifying agricultural, environmental, and social practices used in the growing, harvesting and handling of cut flowers and ornamental plants.
Prolman has led the eco-flower market by developing supplies in more than five countries and promoting the need for eco-flowers on a global scale.
“We’re thrilled to have VeriFlora certified flowers make the first of what we hope will be many Rose Parade appearances to come,” said Stan Rhodes, president and CEO of Scientific Certification Systems, the developer of the VeriFlora certification standard. “A company as dedicated to sustainability as Organic Bouquet is a great messenger for this pioneering flower certification program.”
“It was a thrill to present the Queen with our roses and to see them majestically represented on her float,” said Prolman.
“In all the years that I’ve been involved with the Rose Parade (more than forty years), I have never seen a rose of this stature ... to have a rose with a six-foot length on a single stem is phenomenal,” said Jim Hynd, vice-president and floral director of Fiesta Parade Floats, builder of a number of the 2007 Rose Parade floats.
Fiesta Parade Floats contracted with master florist Cherrie Silverman of Cherry Blossoms Florist in Colorado to arrange the regal flowers on the float.
“In 25 years of being a florist, I’ve never seen anything like this. What’s unique about these roses is the stem length, head size, and petal count,” said Silverman. “It’s very important for ourselves and our children that we take care of the environment.
Sustainably grown flowers are something that I’ve always looked for in the industry, so I’m very happy to finally see them come into the market.”
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O’Reilly notes that flower sales in the United Kingdom have more than tripled in the past 10 years to a value of more than £ 1.3 billion Sterling. She further asks if consumers truly know where their flower purchases originate. “You may check your vegetables in the supermarket to see where they’ve come from, but what about that bunch of roses or carnations?”
Kenya, Colombia and Israel have fast become the leading suppliers of cut flowers to the European Union. But the conditions under which they are grown, with regard to their workers, pesticide, water use and environmental contamination, have been of great concern to many in the U.K.
While Colombia appears to be taking great strides in being accountable to its workers and the environment (see story on page 33), Israel has raised the ire of its neighbours and been accused of a flagrant misuse of water for irrigating its flowers. O’Reilly points out that squandering a resource as precious as water in the Middle East could easily lead to hostilities.
Kenya currently supplies the U.K. with 12,000 tonnes of cut flowers each year, and from an economic standpoint has made a huge success for itself. Such success, however, comes at a terrible environmental price for the struggling African country. In the region where production is centred, Lake Navaisha has become polluted by the flower industry. With the fish being poisoned, fishing livelihoods have been devastated.
With the demise of the fishing industry, people in the area are starving for food as well as the cash their catch brought in. This vicious cycle has led these people, some 300,000 strong, back to the industry that has contaminated their soil and water, in hopes of finding a job tending flowers.
In response to O’Reilly’s concerns, and indeed those of European and North American consumers, a not-for-profit association known as ‘Fair Flowers, Fair Plants,’ (FFP) was formed in the E.U.
FFP notes that retailers are the key link between the consumer and the flower growing industry and as that link, should be able to tell discerning customers the production methods used to grow their flowers, plus where they came from. All flowers and plants marketed under the FFP label are grown and cultivated in a manner that is sustainable to the environment and pose no risk to humans or wild life.
This traceability is the key to FFP’s success, and is the guarantee to growers, retailers and consumers alike that safe farm practices have been established and are being monitored.
Retailers can join FFP for a nominal fee of 50 Euros which gets them a promotional pack containing shop material plus a contract with guidelines to follow. Among the guidelines, retailers must agree to sell FFP products which are bought through the FFP network. They are also obligated to put special labels on FFP flowers and plants so consumers know what they are buying.
FFP notes that consumers are becoming more critical of their living environment and starting to pause and take a better look at what they are buying. They are also starting to look for the FFP label when buying their flowers and plants.
Consumers are learning the flowers and plants bearing this quality mark come from growers who have set up their operations so they fulfil the high requirements concerning the environment and social aspects.
Growers can join the FFP for an annual fee based on the size of their operation. For operations smaller than two hectares, the fee is 50 Euros. For those larger than five hectares, the fee increases to 200 Euros.
By entering into a contract with FFP the growers must be certified in the E.U.’s social and environmental requirements. They must also have a specification on the internet for the product code, plus the volumes that can be shipped over a three month period. Growers will also mark their products with their own FFP number on a sticker or plant label.
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