When you pick up a bouquet of flowers at a local grocery store, flower shop, natural foods market or a community-owned food co-op, try to find out where the flowers are from. Why? If you live in the U.S., and have the choice to purchase domestically-grown flowers, you’re helping U.S.A. flower farms stay alive. Demand U.S.-grown from your local flower provider. You might now know that imported flowers from South America are causing U.S. flower farms to struggle and many are going out of business. Due to the less expensive labor, lack of pesticide and fungicide regulation in South America in particular, our local flower farms are in peril. You as the consumer are the person who can request or require this from your flower seller. You have the power to make change with your dollars.
Learn more by watching this video: Heart & Soil: Reclaiming the American Cut Flower Industry
Presented by Kasey Cronquist, CEO/Ambassador of the California Cut Flower Commission
This is an amazing book about buying locally on the West Coast: The 50 Mile Bouquet by Debra Prinzing
This post was inspired by this post on the Whole Foods Blog about Valentine’s Day flowers. They were promoting imported flowers and not domestically grown flowers. To understand the counter-argument, you need to read the comments posted by the U.S. growers. Many are a part of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers.
“The ASCFG provides an identity for the specialty cut flower industry. It connects more than 600 members across the United States, and in Canada, the Netherlands and Northern Ireland. The ASCFG provides production, marketing, and research information through publications, online communications and national and regional meetings. It also connects floral buyers with the farmers who are producing the highest quality, locally-grown flowers.”- from the ASCFG website.
If you live in Vermont you can find The Painted Tulip grown flowers and Woodie Ornamentals at City Market, Healthy Living Market, Burlington Farmers Market (Summer and Winter), Waterbury Farmers Market (Summer and Winter), and direct from our farm. This season we will be doing a CSFS (Community Supported Flower Subscription) from our farm and at markets in Vermont but also as part of the Pakeen Farm C.S.A. Shares for 2013 are available at the farm in Canton, MA.
Please remember the importance of purchasing as directly from local farmers as much as possible. It keeps more money in the farmer’s pocket which goes back into preserving our bucolic American landscape!
Diane Szukovathy says
Awesome post supporting US grown flowers and helping people understand that they have a choice to support local flower farmers.
One important thing to note: Whole Foods is not a co-op! They are a large-scale, for profit corporation with a very sophisticated business model for marketing to consumers.
Real co-ops are owned by their members, democratically governed by a board of directors and generally have a commitment to uphold and build fabric in the communities where they operate.
debra says
Wonderful Post Nicole,
The American Grown Flower Movement is alive and well – and I’m so pleased you’re advocating that your customers support local blooms!
cheers, Debra
Kasey Cronquist says
Fantastic post Nicole. I saw your blog post come over my Twitter feed and enjoyed reading your thoughts and support on this subject this morning. I certainly appreciate your mention of my presentation during the ASCFG conference in Tacoma.
There has been a lot of great synergy between flower farmers across the country since that meeting and I do believe you saw that synergy in the comments that were left on the Whole Foods blog.
Again, thank you. I look forward to following your blog posts on this subject of American Grown Flowers!
Kasey Cronquist says
Nicole,
Just as a follow up to your wonderful post, I wanted to let you know that the farms have launched a wonderful knew brand to help bring American Grown flowers to the fore. Check out AmericanGrownFlowers.org and let me know what you think.
My best,
Kasey