A recent article in the BBC shows how recent violence in Kenya sparked from election disputes has affected the flower industry. Usually Valentines means that workers can expect to work longer hours, and make some extra money. Others can take temporary work on these large farms, but this year ethnic violence has forces many of these workers to flee their homes and jobs, leaving the Kenyan flower industry in a difficult situation for the highest demand of the year. The industry seems to be running on about 80% of it’s usual workforce, while some of the more fortunate workers have been offered housing on the farms, and have thus been able to keep their jobs, many have been forced to send their families to live elsewhere. The most unfortunate ones had to leave everything behind, or worst yet were killed.

Violence has also disrupted transportation routs forcing flower farmers to incur more expenses by having to charter flights to deliver their product. And while we can hope that this violence will be passing, failing to deliver on the industry’s most important day can damage confidence in the Kenyans flower industry for years to come.

In Colombia Valentine day has been adopted by workers in the flower as International Day of Flowers Workers; a day designed to raise awareness about the poor conditions in which many workers toil. This movement is being highlighted by Florverde certification which places its symbol on flower production which meets their social and environmental standards. Now Florverde is trying to increase labor standards and work with trade unions to continue improving the industry.

Florverde certification covers about 25% of the Colombian flower industry, and its criteria include standards such as sealing fumigated areas to protect workers. Although these seem like obvious steps it is actually commons to have workers in the same area where pesticides are being used. In the past the industry has also seen some very nasty disputes over labor issues and attempts at unionizing. Currently there are some farms that have greatly improved conditions for workers offering decent wages, and daycare, but many other farms still have a very long way to go.

Now partnerships with European markets may help improve the situation. In order to sell in European markets, Colombian flowers would have to meet UK’s Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). Complying with ETI includes freely chosen employment (no prison labor), freedom of association and respecting collective bargaining, safe and hygienic working conditions, the absence of child labor, living wages, reasonable working hours, the absence of discrimination, having regular employment, as well as no tolerance for harsh or inhumane treatment (read their full code here).

It would be great if the other large consumer of cut flowers would also set up to the plate and help improve conditions in this industry that brighten our days, while exploiting so many others.

You can read the BBC article about Kenya here, Colombia here. You can read another article on the situation in Kenya from the Washington Post here.

Image from AP Photo/Bernat Armangue.

Over the weekend I finished reading “Flower Confidential” by Amy Stewart, and what a fascinating read it was! With this book Stewart gives us both the macro and the micro of the industry; in the process she covers botany, genetics, business, marketing, sales, and even addresses the ever present questions of what is our collective fascination with flowers.

Stewart’s own fascination with flowers comes through in every page. She begins the books with the story of how the “Star Gazer” Lily came to be, explaining not only the breeding aspects, but also providing stories of the lives involved in this development. While explaining how different flower species are cultivated, she discusses the different types of flower farms that can be found in places like California, Colombia, Ecuador, and Holland; in each occasion providing plenty of details not only about the farms’ makeup and management, but also issues relating to pesticide use, labor rights, and land stewardship. In some instances she also traces the development of particular farms, or the growth in popularity of particular flowers.

On the more technical and detailed side, the author provides an amazing amount of detail about production, and growth; always in an accessible style. For instance, you might have guessed that flower production in a plant ought to be closely linked to light exposure, but did you know that it is actually the night length that regulates flowering? Or for instance that at an upscale florist a rose can fetch around $5 per stem, while the florist paid between $1.50 and $2 per stem, and if you trace this flower back to the grower, most likely in Colombia or Ecuador, this same rose earned the grower $.30. As for the worker who actually cared for this rose all along, each stem sold represents less than $.04 of their wages.

When discussing sales and marketing Stewart discusses how flower production began to take place further and further away from the point of consumption. Modern developments have allowed this to be the case, but decades ago, before we had all this infrastructure certain entrepreneurs began to think it was possible to grow flowers in a variety of countries around the Equator, for consumption in places like the USA, Europe and Russia. As early as 1969 Thomas Keller and David Cheever began to explore countries with ideal flower growing conditions, such as high altitudes, proximity to the equator, predictable weather patterns, and good airports, Colombia, violence and all, was perfect.

On the business side of things, Stewart discusses both the Latin American flower trade shows as well as the major one in Amsterdam. With sales she also explored the possibilities and complications of producing more environmentally friendly flowers with a product that still has hardly any brand name recognition. She questions how we can start asking for better flowers when once flowers are at the shop, ready for sale, it is nearly impossible to determine where they started out to begin with.

One of the things that I do think it a big gap in the book is the absence of a discussion of women in the flower industry. Stewart briefly mentioned that both in the USA and in countries around the world, women workers have complained about sexual harassment and exploitation while working at flower farms. Still, the author missed a great opportunity to further explore the situation, and the interesting relationship between an industry that in many ways caters to women, but which also has traditionally employed women in exploitative situations (I’m not arguing that this happens on every farms, but it happens much too often anyway). Still, Stewart does address the complicated issues around flower and labor. She discusses how for countries like Colombia and Ecuador, flower production has a bright and dark side. For years now the USA has promoted flower production in a number of Latin American countries as a replacement crop for illegal ones, the incentive being low or no tariffs as they come into the USA market. Flower production is taking over vast amounts of land and in many occasions pushing peasants off the land and into the city where conditions are often worst. Still, when Stewart asked a grower about this situation he pointed out that things are just as complicated when buying USA grown flowers, since in this case you are likely supporting not an “American” worker, but are instead supporting a Mexican, or other Latin American workers who has likely been separated from their family.

Overall it is a fantastic read if you already know something about the flower industry and what to learn more about the details, or if you occasionally buy flowers and had never thought about what flowers go through before they reach you. Stewart will fill you in with all the details in an intelligent, and straight forward manner.

Amy Stewart also has a great website, including an interesting blog.

Image info; Star Gazer Lily here; Roses here.

Valentines Day and Mother’s Day are the biggest days of the year for flower sales around the globe, but do you know how those flowers come to you? It’s not a pretty sight. Colombia is one of the world’s largest flower producers, and the industry is plagued by problems, usually concerning very low pay, long hours, and constant exposure to a number of toxic chemicals.In 2002 I spent some time on the outskirts of Bogotá talking to a group of women who “worked” at these flower farms. I use the term “work” very loosely since they had tried to ask for a living wage and in retaliation have been locked out from work. The women had organized and set up tent outside the various farms to express their opinions about the situation. They had been doing this, while unemployed, for over a year.

A recent article in the UK’s Guardian commented about these gross work situations, and mentioned something that I hadn’t heard before. Colombia has created logo to designate “good” farms to work on, with the label of “Florverde”, but the article in the Guardian says that even on these farms there are common violations to workers right.

If you want to learn more about the matter, I suggest Marta Rodriguez’ film “Amor, mujeres y flores / Love, Women and Flowers”, available from Women Make Movies (also available from a number of academic libraries in the USA). This film documents a specific case where workers managed to take over a flower farm and ran it successfully for a while, until the previous owners brought in the police and destroyed the place, and let the farm run into the ground. The ruins of this particular farm still stand as an example of what “happens when workers try to demand just working conditions”.

Here are a few links to organic and/or fair trade flower producers around the world. (I’m not endorsing any of these, use your own common sense when/if you want to patronize them.)

EcoBusinessLinks

Fairtrade.org