During the Garden Retail Experience in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands, 'Fair Flora' was officially launched, a new flower and plant label that offers transparency regarding the footprint of products. Growers who have had their footprint calculated can, if they wish so, carry their products under this label. From today eight nurseries so far carry the Fair Flora label.
Fair Flora has to grow into the main flower and plant label that offers transparency of the ecological footprint of flowers and plants. The label, which, among others, will be carried by growers who are members of Benefits of Nature, must also provide growers with a fair price for their product. Seven women stand for Fair Flora: Karolien Tesselaar-Van Tilburg, Marleen van Arendonk, Marloes Fröling, Marina Kiur, Liza Sokol and Martine Reijm. They all support Fair Flora with their own field of expertise, each contributes her part, wherever possible.
Grower determines the price
"A Fair Flora plant is a plant that is produced with an eye for sustainability in the areas of people, the environment and raw materials. In addition, there is a continuous effort to produce this plant even more sustainably." There are many growers who produce in this manner, but receive little in return. They are forced to produce ever more sustainably, but a higher price for all these investments is out of the question. Fair Flora is changing that: flowers and plants that are cultivated according to our criteria can be sold under our name. The grower then decides the price! This way, investments can be made, for example, in new cultivation techniques and better possibilities for the staff. This is done in a transparent manner: the results of the Fair Flora requirements, including a plan to further increase sustainability, can be viewed online any time."
Growers that currently carry the label are Bestplant, Fachjan, Reijm Nieuwerkerk, Smit Kwekerijen, Tesselaar Alstroemeria, Van der Hoorn Orchideeën, Van Riel and VDE Plant. "Our growers are each day busy with growing beautiful flowers and plants. They are paying attention to the use of fertilizers and crop protection, the use of energy and electricity and the development of the staff. The Fair Flora growers have all calculated their ecological footprint, so they are aware of the bottlenecks in the business operations and are working hard to improve them. They do this not alone, but in collaboration with many parties. The floriculture sector can only really become more sustainable if the customer is willing to cooperate to those improvements."
For more information on Fair Flora visit fair-flora.com