Ethically Sourced Flowers

Title:Ethically Sourced FlowersWord Count:541Summary:Flowers epitomise emotion and can have a verybeneficial impact on people. Wouldn 抰 it be evenbetter if people were able to confidently buysustainable, ethically-sourced flowers tocommunicate their feelings? This articlehighlights the importance of buying ethicallysourced flowers, while detailing the Europeaninitiative, Fair Flowers Fair Plants.

Keywords:Ethical Flowers, Fair Flowers, Flowers Delivery,Florists, Flower ShopArticle Body:Flowers epitomise emotion and can have a verybeneficial impact on people. They are sent tocommunicate their feelings to their nearest anddearest. Wouldn 抰 it be even better if peoplewere able to confidently buy sustainable,ethically-sourced flowers to communicate theirfeelings? After all, ethical commitment is anemotion as well! However, buying sustainable,ethical flowers is a niche activity in the UK,with only a handful of florists offering producewhich is truly ethically sourced.First of all, some numbers:The total market for cut flowers and house plantsin the UK is estimated to be ?.2 Billion and isexpected to exceed ? Billion by 2011. Despite the

incursion of mutiple alternatives includinggifts, chocolates and wines, people are stillsaying it with flowers, although the UK lagsbehind the rest of Europe in annual per capitaspend on flowers.There is a perennial debate regarding industrystandards for flowers, as consumers havehistorically been confronted with confusingsymbols of ethical quality. The Kenyan FlowerCouncil which accounts for much of the importsinto the UK, is governed by Fair Trade, whichregulates the code of conduct for more than 1,000farms in Kenya, although only about 25 large farmssupply over 75% of Kenya 抯 flower exports. Eversince its introduction to the flower industry in1999, Fair Trade has done an excellent job ofsupporting more than 10,000 workers in developingnations, by setting ethical standards to improveworking environments. However, in theintervening years the industry has grownconsiderably and the competitive landscape has

evolved. In particular, fair trade initiativestend to work best in highly fragmented industriessuch as fruits and vegetables, which are crowdedwith numerous small producers, but less well inmore consolidated industries, such as the flowerindustry. This is because fair trade initiativescan benefit larger organisationsdisproportionately, thus effectivelydisadvantaging the development of smallerproducers within the competitive environment.Fair Flowers Fair Plants (FFP) is a Europeaninitiative which addresses historic shortcomingsby creating a level playing field for allproducers by setting uniform, global standards.One of the unique features of FFP is its emphasison auditing the entire supply chain to regulatethe use of pesticides, land, energy and theworking environment. Furthermore, it also offersflexibility to florists to source their produceeither from flower auctions or directly, throughFFP compliant growers. This latter approach

guarantees fresher floral produce, reducedwastage and a happier customer (key!). In thelonger term, FFP 抯 aim is to unify all existingstandards to make it simple for growers, tradersand consumers.As in all free markets, if there is demonstrableconsumer demand then that will stimulate growthin supply. If no-one wants FFP-accredited flowers,then they simply won 抰 be grown. It is estimatedthat 18.1 million Fair Trade stems were sold inthe UK in 2005 so there are clearly people willingto buy ethically-sourced flowers. The challengefor FFP is to get into the national consciousnesswhen Fair Trade is already the de facto standardin most peoples?minds. One thing that people mostlove to hear is that FFP-accredited flowerstypically cost no more than non FFP flowers; sobeing a good egg doesn 抰 have to mean a dent inyour pocket as well!