Sustainable floristry and the real cost of a rose

It’s interesting viewing for anyone who buys flowers, from consumers to florists to supermarkets. Journalist Isabella Higgins’ journey from the Netherlands to Kenya is a study in contrasts.

At the Royal Flora Holland auction house, a building with the largest floor area in Europe, scores of workers buzz around on scooters hauling crates of flowers. The actual trading happens in front of a wall of computers monitoring the flowers’ fluctuating prices. Viewers learn that the epicentre of the global flower trade is a picture of modern capitalism, with perishables exchanged and transported across the globe at refrigerated, next-day delivery speed.

The story then moves to Kenya, one of the world’s major growing regions. There we hear about the flip side – the price the developing world pays to keep those flowers coming. Interviews with female farm workers describe the human costs of working for low wages and under unhealthy conditions. One suffers from a respiratory illness she blames on cold rooms and pesticides; another is forced to supplement her earnings with sex work; both earn less than the country’s minimum wage and have dependents who rely on them. The environmental impacts on Lake Naivasha are also considered and the contribution to local employment is discussed.

The program acknowledges that global floriculture is complex and that for all the problems, flower farming has transformed the Kenyan economy. It points out that many farms have invested in certification schemes to create fair work conditions and address environmental issues.

Meanwhile, back in the Netherlands, sustainability concerns are being embedded into global trade and farmers work on developing carbon-neutral growing techniques.

SFN Expert Advisor and Professor of Creative Economies and Ecological Sustainability at Coventry University David Bek is a co-lead of the UK-based research group the Sustainable Cut Flowers Project.

Professor Bek agrees that the program reflected some of the ethical and environmental challenges confronting the global cut-flower industry, but points out that these are not exclusive to the cut flower industry.

“These are classic problems of globalisation and contemporary capitalism,” he says. ”The same broad picture of environmental damage and worker exploitation can be drawn for many product supply chains – clothes, phones, furniture – you name it.”

With overconsumption the leading cause of climate change  — one percent of the world’s population produces the same emissions as the poorest two thirds — humanity is being urged to review how we produce and consume all commodities, luxury products in particular. Flowers are no exception.

What is exceptional about flowers is that they are perishable luxuries. Consumers have become familiar with flowers being consistently available and cheap. They can collect a quick bunch when buying fuel or tuck a bundle into a shopping trolley at the supermarket.  However, the process of transporting a delicate and perishable flower from the shores of an African lake to a 24-hour minimart 10 000km away is peppered with issues that challenge the industry’s triple bottom line.

Prof. Bek says that ultimately, all markets, in hand with regulation, need to help drive the transition to create truly sustainable industries.

“Enabling consumers to make informed choices is a key step forward, which means there needs to be much more transparency about the origins of products and the circumstances of production,” he says, “This applies to all industries aiming for sustainability.”

“Bodies like the Sustainable Floristry Network have a crucial role to play in educating people in the industry, who in turn, can share information with their customers.”

A new approach to floristry education

“Every day as florists we make hundreds of choices and every one of them has impacts along different supply chains,” says Rita Feldmann, founder and education director at the Sustainable Floristry Network (SFN).

“Given that florists are at that point between producers and consumers, we have a very powerful role to play in driving more sustainable choices. We can guide consumers to purchases that are associated with lower emissions and decent working conditions.

The vision behind the SFN was to develop an education program that could empower florists with the knowledge they need to build a more sustainable business and industry.

The SFN’s Foundation in Sustainable Floristry training course is the first in the organisation’s Flowers 2030 education program, which has been designed to help florists cut emissions and support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Students take a deep dive into the issues raised in the ABC program, with a comprehensive look at how the global industry has developed.

But choosing more sustainable flowers is just one step. Over nine hours online, the course delivers a comprehensive education on the science of sustainability, as it applies to floristry.

“Our course teaches florists to embed sustainability into their entire design and business practice. That means not only assessing the sustainability of a flower and supporting ethical supply chains, but also practicing zero-waste design, becoming carbon literate, participating in the circular economy and running an ethical business.”