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Demand
Sustainably Produced Cut Flowers
by Sarah “Steve” Mosko
Flowers add
color and gaiety to any special occasion and are a time-honored way to say
thank you or beautify living spaces. However, cut flowers have become a
multi-billion dollar global trade industry with a not so pretty underbelly
rooted in where and how they are grown.
Historically in
the U.S., flowers were first grown in greenhouses in Eastern states and
later in Western and Southern states when commercial air transportation made
preserving freshness possible. In the 1970s, the U.S. grew more cut flowers
than it imported, only a small fraction originated in Colombia.
However, new
market forces were unleashed in 1991 when the U.S. suspended import duties
on flowers from Colombia to curb growing of coca for cocaine and to bolster
the Colombian economy. By 2003, the U.S. was importing more flowers from
Colombia than were produced domestically. The combination of cheap unskilled
labor (largely female) and ideal, year-round growing conditions created an
explosive market for Colombian floriculture.
On a global level, the Netherlands has long been
the largest cut flower exporter, boasting
fifty-two percent of the global market in 2013, with Colombia’s fifteen percent market share coming
in a distant second. The U.S., however, still relies largely on Colombia for
cut flowers, everything from roses, carnations and chrysanthemums to exotics
like orchids and bird-of-paradise. Imports make up about
sixty-five percent of flowers sold domestically, and more than
seventy-five percent of those come from Colombia.
Because California’s
coastal climate is also ideal for growing flowers, the state supplies twenty
to twenty-five percent of all cut flowers sold nationwide and seventy
percent of those grown domestically, according to the
California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC). San Diego and Santa Barbara counties grow the most. Ecuador is the
third major source of cut flowers sold in the U.S.
Shoppers can assume that many flowers sold at
supermarkets, florists, and kiosks were imported from Colombia or Ecuador. For
example, in the U.S., Wal-Mart, Kroeger, Safeway, Whole Foods, Albertson’s,
and Costco all source most of their flowers from
Colombia. Because flowers are not food, limitations on what chemicals can be applied are far more lax.
In Colombia, about twenty percent of pesticides used in flower production
are known carcinogens or toxins which are restricted or banned in North
America or Europe, according to a 2007
report from The International Labor Rights Fund.
Cut flowers grown in California are also routinely doused with herbicides, insecticides,
fungicides, and other chemicals, over 400,000 pounds in 2009, according to U.S.
Dept. of Agriculture
statistics. However, CCFC is determined to see California become the national model for
sustainable flower farming via its new
BloomCheck certification program. To merit the BloomCheck
label, standards must be met designed to assure that farms are “socially
equitable, environmentally sustainable, and economically viable.“
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Field to Vase
Dinner Tour
The Certified
American Grown Council is a coalition of U.S. flower growers whose logo
certifies that flowers were grown domestically. The council is offering
flower lovers across America opportunities to gather for Field to Vase
Dinners, truly unique dining experiences which celebrate the beauty and
heritage of American grown flowers.
At each
intimate dinner, “farm-to-table” chefs use locally sourced ingredients to
create artisan meals – including craft wine and beer – served on tables
adorned with seasonal American grown flowers. Each event is held in a flower
farming landscape which allows people to meet real farmers and experience
first-hand the connection between flowers, agriculture and America’s
floriculture roots. The remaining dinners in the 2016 tour will be held in
Boulder, CO, Quakertown, PA, Sonoma, CA and Woodland, WA. Visit
www.AmericanGrownFlowers.org if you’re interested in learning more.
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CCFC’s CEO
Kasey Cronquist cites the multiple layers of oversight in California’s
floriculture industry that were already in place – including the state’s
Department of Food and Agriculture, Department of Pesticide Regulation,
Coastal Commission and Water Board – and stand in sharp contrast to a lack of regulatory oversight in Colombia’s and
Ecuador’s flower industry. BloomCheck adds an additional third-party
guarantee that flowers were grown with the best available practices
for protecting water, air, soil quality, wildlife, and the welfare of workers
and the community. However, because the BloomCheck program is new, only
three of the two hundred-plus flower farms in California are yet certified.
There are solid reasons to buy sustainably and/or locally grown flowers which mirror those
for buying organic foodstuffs grown close to home:
For the soil, water quality,
birds and bees: Chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other
chemicals allowed in conventional floriculture can contaminate soil and local water sources. Once applied, chemicals can become airborne
and incorporated into rain and snow which contaminate distant lands and
bodies of water. Pollution is also introduced into the food
chain when insects and birds feed on the plants.
For the health and dignity of
agricultural workers: A benchmark
study in 1990 identified 127 different pesticides to which floriculture workers in
Colombia could be exposed. Since then, several
studies have suggested links between pesticide exposure in floriculture workers and
reproductive toxicity, including decreased sperm quality in males, lower
fecundity in females, and increased risk of congenital malformations in
offspring.
Furthermore, two-thirds of Colombian and
Ecuadorian flower workers suffer skin rashes, respiratory problems, and eye
problems due to work-related chemical exposure, according to a 2007
study by the International Labor Rights Fund. The study also found that poverty-level
wages and a seventy to eighty hour work week in peak seasons (Valentine’s
and Mother’s Day) were the norm and that child labor was common. Consumer responsibility, compassion and
human decency dictate minimizing exposing fellow humans to unnecessary
occupational health risks.
For a smaller carbon footprint:
The refrigerated air transport that brings in eighty percent of all cut flowers today
from South America is very carbon intensive. According to CCFC’s CEO, there
are seven to ten daily incoming flights devoted one hundred percent to
shipping flowers, increasing by thirty-five per day in peak seasons. California grown flowers, in contrast,
always ship by piggy-backing onto passenger flights, and CCFC calculates
that, “the carbon footprint to ship California grown flowers throughout the
United States is three to sixteen times less than those imported from South
America.”
For florists and consumers: The U.S. Department of
Agriculture neither tests cut flowers for pesticides nor requires that
flowers be free of toxic residues, putting anyone who handles them at risk
of exposure.
People today are asking more questions about
where and how their food is grown and demanding more sustainably-produced
and organic options. So too should we be mindful of the hidden costs to
people and the environment of cut flowers, whether produced domestically or
abroad. Look for the
BloomCheck label or certification by other organizations that set standards for social
and environmental responsibility on imported flowers, like
Florverde, Veriflora,
FairTrade USA, or
Rainforest Alliance. Certified organically grown flowers can be ordered online from
CaliforniaOrganicFlowers, FlowersFromHawaii,
and GardeniaOrganic.
We can all use
our purchasing power to push the cut flower industry to embrace policies
that better respect the health and welfare of agricultural workers and the
environment.
Sarah "Steve" Mosko is a freelance writer in
southern California who endeavors to educate the public about the myriad
environmental problems created by human activities. Read more of her
published articles at
www.BoogieGreen.com.
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