"Let's stop weaponizing flowers for political reasons"

"It seems to happen around every flower holiday – flowers are weaponized by protectionists and they drag out the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) as the reason domestic flower growers have been harmed over the past quarter century. While this narrative is comforting to some, it’s not the complete story. It’s not even the accurate story. I suppose it’s a comforting narrative because it places the blame beyond our shores", writes Michael LoBue, CEO of CalFlowers.

"I bought into this narrative when I became CEO of the CalFlowers back in late 2013. As a native Californian, I was ready to carry the charge against the perpetrators of this seemingly obvious injustice. Trained as a policy wonk, I went to find the data that supported this narrative. That’s when I discovered that not only was the core thread of the narrative wrong, it was exactly 180 degrees wrong. While there’s no denying that inexpensive imports from the Andes coincided with a massive disruption of domestic flower production, especially in California, there’s actually a more supportable narrative that inexpensive imported flowers actually saved the US floral industry."

Read the full column here.