Jos — Organic certification in the US is overseen by the USDA. At the Santa Monica farmers’ market that don and I both go to, booths from certified organic farms are marked with a pennant that reads “certified organic.” I think the problem you’re pointing to is that some people will say their product is organic, but not be certified — which many consumers find difficult to trust (and rightly so). The key for you might be to look for the certification.

Annie — It seems you’re familiar with VeriFlora standards, but not familiar with fair trade standards. Here’s the list of prohibited materials for fair trade products that should help you see that VeriFlora is not the ONLY flower label that does these things. You’ll notice that #2 and #5 that you mention are not requirements of VeriFlora, but recommendations — something I’m trying to distinguish between in this post. In any case, it’s not like I said VeriFlora is evil; I simply said that fair trade certification standards — the MINIMUM REQUIRED standards, not the voluntary recommended ones — are more stringent.

As far as I can tell Fair Trade Certified is the only label that supports environmental protection AND worker protection AND economic development.

How is a farm supposed to become organic if the money towards becoming organic is suddenly pulled out of the paychecks of workers who already are not making enough money to support their families?

1. Requires the elimination of agrochemicals that
the World Health Organization has identified as extremely hazardous and highly hazardous;
2. Calls for the phase out of additional chemicals based on human health and environmental risk;
3. Applies to cut flowers AND potted plants produced anywhere and sold in North America;
4. Requires progress in energy efficiency;
5. Integrates organic farming.

Sustainability goes beyond organic and beyond fair labor to ALSO consider waste management, soil fertility, water conservation, eco-habitat protection, packaging, energy efficiency and quality.

And, VeriFlora is not just for the trade. It’s a consumer label indeed and lets you know that the flowers were Certified Sustainably Grown: “good for people and good for the planet.”

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I think the most important issue is that FTC flowers are consumer recognized with the
Transfair label.

The consumer can vote with their wallet and money is send back to the communities in the developing countries. And all of this is monitored by TransFair… and IT WORKS.

Veriflora is labeled for the flower trade.

Both Labels are a welcome change in our industry and should be supported.

Ref organic. Rules and regulations on what is organic are very unclear.
We tried to import (what we believed were) organic flowers.
It is very difficult to get them across the borders because international rules about bugs and pests in the flowers are clear. … Not allowed.
Locally grown flowers might be “labeled “organic but ….. Who controls that?