Feature Story
From Fair Trade coffee to organic breakfast cereals and locally
grown produce, products with a conscience are popping up
throughout supermarkets today, and that movement is making its
way into floral departments and the industry as a whole.
a new movement
Though specialty retailers like Whole Foods Market have made
organic and environmentally friendly products part of their
niche for years, stores are taking up the environmental drumbeat
in evergrowing numbers. Wal-Mart has stocked up on organic
products, and The Home Depot in mid-April unveiled a new label,
Eco Options, that identifies nearly 3,000 of its stock-keeping
units (SKUs) as better for the environment.
New York-based Price Chopper also has taken the environment to
heart. Jon Strom, who has directed the 115-store chain’s floral
operations, has been named vice president of floral and
lifestyle merchandising, adding a focus on health and wellness
throughout the stores. In mid-March, the company unveiled a
campaign to promote organic and natural products, more of which
have been added to every department.
“In floral, we decided to promote the fact that most of our
suppliers are environmentally conscious,” Mr. Strom shares. The
stores’ Signature Collection bouquet, which Miami, Fla.-based
supplier Nature’s Flowers verified was composed entirely of
Florverde-certified flowers (see “Green Labels for Flowers” on
Page 64), was renamed the Eco-Friendly Bouquet, keeping its same
product mix and $7.99 and $12.99 price points. In its first
week—the mid-March companywide promotion—sales of these bouquets
increased 18 percent, Mr. Strom describes.
“I really believe that informing the customer about the
practices—the growing practices, the reduced use of chemicals
and pesticides, the fair wages paid to the laborers, and the
education and health benefits given to the employees and the
families in Colombia—resonated with our guests,” he says.
Publix Super Markets in mid-April introduced a year-round
bouquet to all of its 901 stores that also carries the Florverde
label and has a broad environmental message. Maria Brous,
director of media and community relations, says this new bouquet
is the first such floral offering but that Publix is “actively
sourcing Earth-friendly products and organic flowers.”
The EarthSmart™ Bouquet is supplied by Gems Global Inc., Miami,
Fla., and includes an “earthy” mix of flowers in a recyclable
sleeve and recyclable merchandisers, explains Bonnie Armellini,
co-owner of Gems Global. Ms. Armellini is creating EarthSmart™
hang tags that will include consumer tips for helping the
environment, such as shutting off computers to save energy and
stopping junk-mail.
Anne-Marie Langelier, president of Savoir Fleur, a company in
Montreal that supplies ready-made fresh floral products to
supermarkets and mass markets in Canada and is a Veriflora-certified
handler (see “Green Labels for Flowers,” Page 64), says her
short-term goal is to have at least 30 percent of her product
mix carrying an environmental certification; long-term, her goal
is to source only such certified products.
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 Organic:
According to the Organic Trade Assoc-iation (OTA),
“organic” refers to agricultural practices that “maintain and
replenish soil fertility without the use of toxic and persistent
pesticides and fertilizers.” Flowers and plants may carry the
USDA Organic seal. To do so, they must meet the guidelines of
the National Organic Program (NOP) of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA). A USDA-accredited certifying agency ensures
that guidelines are met, and there are international certifiers
to gauge products that will be exported to the United States.
Growers and handlers with less than $5,000 in sales of organic
products are exempt from certification and may label their
products as organic if they adhere to the same standards, but
they can’t use the USDA Organic seal.
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 Florverde:
This label developed in 1996 by Asocolflores, the Col-ombian
Association of Flower Exporters, applies to flowers grown in
Col-ombia that have met standards of sustainable farming
practices such as reducing pesticide use, including banning any
pesticides not registered for use in the United States and
European Union, and conserving water; and standards for working
conditions such as not hiring employees younger than 18 and
paying above-market wages. Augusto Solano, president of
Asocolflores, says as of April, 137 companies representing 167
farms were participating in Florverde. Of those, 109 had been
certified by independent auditor SGS Group, of Switzerland. SGS
has certified such farms since 2003 and this year began annually
inspecting all certified farms.
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 FlorEcuador:
A program of Expoflores, the Ecuadorean Association of Flower
Growers and Exporters, FlorEcuador began in June 2005 to hold
its members to standards regarding environmental practices,
social practices and quality. There are two stages to
FlorEcuador: Chapter 1, mandatory for all 180 Expoflores
members, requires that companies meet basic standards and is
certified by Expoflores; Chapter 2, which five farms have
achieved, is certified by SGS Group, an independent auditor
based in Switzerland, and requires that companies meet higher
standards, including Good Agriculture Practices (GAP). Wenddy
Obando Sevilla, program manager for FlorEcuador, says 35 farms
have Chapter 1 certification, with the rest working toward
certification, and she says Expoflores has conducted 92
inspections.
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 Fair
Trade: This label has been in existence in Europe since the
early 1990s and in the United States since 1999. In May, the
label was to begin applying to cut flowers grown in developing
countries for sale in the United States. TransFair USA is the
certifying agency that oversees the label for U.S.-sold flowers,
and Hannah Freeman, produce and floral account manager, said as
of mid-April that 32 growers around the world were to be Fair
Trade certified in cut flowers. The label guarantees livable
wages and has standards for working conditions and the
environment. Buyers/importers pay a social premium that goes to
a fund at the farms for worker development programs.
Buyers/importers also pay a volume fee to cover audits and
consumer awareness campaigns.
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 Veriflora:
This label applies to flowers and potted plants grown
anywhere in the world that are being sold in North America and
certifies that those products were produced in ways that
preserve the environment, ensure good working conditions and
provide optimal flower quality such as cold-chain management.
The Veriflora certification can apply either to specific
cultivars or to entire farms or companies. Created in 2003,
Veriflora’s first certifications were granted in 2005. As of
mid-April, 13 growers representing 32 farms in South America and
six growers representing 18 farms in the United States were
either certified or about to achieve certification, according to
Alexander Winslow, director of communications for Scientific
Certification Systems (SCS), which owns the rights to the
Veriflora label and manages the certification program. Three
North American floral distributors also have Veriflora
certification.
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 Sierra
Eco: This brand was created by Montreal-based Sierra Flower
Trading, Ltd., in 1999. In addition to applying this label to
products that carry certain environmental certifications, the
company developed a video and marketing materials to promote the
brand and its meaning as well as allowing wholesale and retail
florists who commit to the same values to carry the label as
well, says Tom Leckman, president and CEO. Sierra Flower Trading
is a certified Veriflora handler and was among companies that
helped develop that standard.
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International Labels: Green labels in the European and
international flower
marketplace include:
EurepGAP,
www.eurepgap.org;
FFP (Fair Flowers Fair Plants),
www.fairflowersfairplants.com;
Max Havelaar, Switzerland,
www.maxhavelaar.ch/en/;
Flower Label Program (FLP), Germany,
www.fairflowers.de;
MPS (Milieu Programma Sierteelt), Netherlands;
LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming), the United Kingdom,
www.leafuk.org;
KENYAGAP, Kenya,
www.fpeak.org.
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customer demand
As one indicator of the growth of this category in the flower
industry, the Organic Trade Association’s 2006 Manufacturer
Survey gives a clue. Sales of organic flowers were $16 million
in 2005, a 50 percent increase over 2004. Organic Bouquet, Inc.,
a company that since 2001 has been selling organic flowers and
other certified sustainable flowers direct to consumers through
its online site,
www.organicbouquet.com, predicted earlier this year that
consumer demand will exceed $100 million in such flower
purchases by 2012. Gerald Prolman, founder and CEO of Organic
Bouquet, says his company’s sales have nearly doubled each of
the past few years. And last year, the company added a wholesale
division to supply florists and retailers.
“To the extent the market demands sustainable practices, growers
will respond. Consumers will demand eco-flowers if they know
they are available. It’s the classic chicken-and-the-egg story,”
he describes.
Mr. Prolman has been among those helping to increase the demand.
He led the effort to create the Veriflora standard by bringing
the idea and key grower and distributor players together, says
Alexander Winslow, director of communications for Scientific
Certification Systems (SCS), which owns the Veriflora standard
and manages the certification program.
Amy Stewart, author of Flower Confidential, a book released in
February that delves behind the scenes of the industry, says
she’s asked audiences in her promotional tour of more than two
dozen cities how many would buy a product because it’s organic,
sustainable or socially responsible. “On average, two-thirds of
the audience raised their hands,” she describes, though noting
this is a self-selected group with an interest in the topic.
“The lowest I ever saw was about half, but there were many times
when it was 100 percent.”
growing green
You’ll hear different terms regarding a flower’s environmental
and social impact: “organic,” “sustainably grown,”
“environmentally friendly,” “worker-friendly,” “socially
responsible,” “green.” Each flower certification program has its
own standards that companies must meet—some addressing the
environmental impact of the production, some addressing the
social impact, some addressing flower quality standards, and
others addressing all of these aspects. Companies must pay fees
for most certification processes, in addition to any corrective
measures to meet the particular standards. For companies doing
business in the global marketplace, this isn’t a new phenomenon;
European markets have a number of flower certification
standards.
Lane DeVries, president and CEO of Sun Valley Floral Group,
Arcata, Calif., says it’s just in the past seven to nine months
that the company has started promoting its Veriflora
certification with the seal on its products. Sun Valley was
among companies that joined in developing the Veriflora
standards, and its first products were certified in 2005, with
certification for all of its farms being achieved within the
past year.
“From a pure dollars-and-cents perspective, we have not seen any
benefit from this program, as of yet anyway,
and I’m not sure that we will, at least in the foreseeable
future,” Mr. DeVries describes, noting that there’s no
difference in the price buyers pay for a certified stem versus a
noncertified stem. “The real goal in this is not necessarily to
do this for a profit motive.”
Producers say organic products, however, do come with higher
price tags. In Sun Valley’s case, it has been producing some
organic tulips for the past six years. Mr. DeVries says his
company pays double what it pays for a conventional bulb. For
buyers, he says, this results in a 30 percent higher price for
Sun Valley’s organic tulips versus its conventionally grown
tulips. “In that particular case, we can only do a program like
that if we’re able to get compensated for that extra cost,” Mr.
DeVries explains.
Another hurdle to organic production for Sun Valley is a limited
supply of organic bulbs, says Mr. DeVries. Part of the Veriflora
label is a requirement that companies either be producing
organic product or have a plan to transition to organic
production, though no timeline is attached to this requirement,
Mr. Winslow says.
Kami Castillo, who is involved in marketing and design for
grower Kendall Farms, Fallbrook, Calif., says 25 of Kendall
Farms’ more than 115 crops are organic. The rest of its product
mix carries the Veriflora certification. Kendall Farms also was
among companies that helped develop the Veriflora standard, and
it carries the certification on its entire operation.
The company is promoting this fact by marketing bouquets and
consumer bunches under its new “Simple Sun-shine” title. Ms.
Castillo says it is up to buyers whether the bouquets at
store-level carry the appropriate eco-label, either Veriflora or
USDA Organic depending on the product mix. “We’re utilizing the
marketing materials that Veriflora created and offering them to
our customers so they can get that information to the end
consumer,” Ms. Castillo describes.
Roberto Nevado, CEO of rose grower Nevado Ecuador, Latacunga,
Ecuador, says demand for certified products has increased more
slowly than expected and that it has been difficult to obtain a
higher price to compensate for the costs of complying with such
requirements. “The market has not yet understood that this is a
special product for special clients and at a special higher
price,” he says.
Nevado Ecuador carries nine certifications—among them Veriflora
and FlorEcuador—in the course of its business not only with the
United States but also the European market. “A certified flower
must have extra personnel that deals with different issues that
the certification makes compulsory. Besides, the social aspects
come with a higher cost for the farms,” he explains. “Having so
many certifications as Nevado Ecuador has makes this matter an
important economic aspect.”
a question of promotion
Those with labels targeting the North American marketplace say
they are working to expand awareness. Augusto Solano, president
of Asocolflores, the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters,
says the association is working to get its Florverde label
recognized by more end consumers. He says the 167 farms
participating in Florverde, which turned 10 last year, account
for 30 percent of flowers sold to U.S. consumers. “In the case
of the U.S. market, not many labels can offer more than 700
million stems of certified flowers per year,” he says.
Mr. Winslow says SCS recently entered a licensing agreement with
MasterTag to create in-store merchandising materials, stem tags,
sleeves, signage and other items to promote the Veriflora label
to consumers. “We’ve got approximately 600 million stems
somewhere in the pipeline, either being grown or somewhere in
the distribution channel. So we’re hitting that critical mass,
where now it’s really making an impact,” Mr. Winslow says.
looking ahead
Ultimately, consumers and large floral buyers will vote with
their dollars. Tom Leckman, president and CEO of Sierra Flower
Trading, Ltd., Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which has promoted its
own Sierra Eco brand on its products as a way to highlight the
practices of such certifications as FLP, Florverde and Veriflora
without confusing customers with multiple labels, sees a new
wave overtaking the industry. “Six years ago, you wouldn’t have
walked into a traditional food store and said, ‘Hey, there’s a
big market for organic produce,’” he says. “Whether people will
identify themselves as 100 percent green, as the awareness grows
of the impacts of all the decisions we make with our
consumption, I believe the market will be there for these
products.
“I think many more organizations are stopping now and not just
asking the price,” he says, “but trying to understand what are
the real costs.”
You may reach Amy Bauer by
e-mail at
abauer@superfloralretailing.com or by phone at (800)
355-8086.
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