You see huge bouquets at your local big-box grocery store, they're easy to grab and go and often cheap. Why should you want to buy locally grown flowers, when there is a pricing difference and you have to drive to a farm for them? The bulk of flowers bought in the U.S have been imported from overseas, and this shipping time cuts into your flower bouquet life.
Overseas flower farms in Europe and Africa have been known for poor working conditions and little employee rights. In recent years there has been action to improve by working with Fairtrade certified farms that focus on workers' rights, conditions, and pay.
Are you making different lifestyle choices to lower your overall carbon footprint? If this is something you are taking into consideration, local flowers are a great option. By purchasing locally grown and harvested flowers there is no international travel and keeping those items cool during their commute.
What about the growing conditions abroad?
Looking beyond the miles imported flowers have traveled, how are they grown? Environmental groups in Kenya have identified pesticides used at the 50+ flower farms in the Lake Naivasha region as a threat to the water quality and resident hippopotamus populations in this freshwater lake. (FAO, 2002). To ensure the highest crop yield, heavy pesticides are used with few regulations.
How is Eaddy Acres growing flowers? Our farm is focused on never using pesticides and always going the natural route for pest control. Each seed is sown, cared for, and harvested by Becca and Justin. We are still small-scale producing to provide our community with fresh blooms that were grown ethically with a lower carbon footprint than big-box stores.
This short film illustrates the perks of buying local flowers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEXs9UUgqqg
Sources :FAO. 2002. A thorn on every rose for Kenya's flower industry. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Newsroom 18 April 2002 online at http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2002/3789-en.html.