In light of CalFlowers' recent public position on state and national legislative issues, some might conclude that CalFlowers does not support the Certified American Grown program. That conclusion would be wrong, as CalFlowers shares in the following statement.
CalFlowers supports American consumers who wish to select their floral products based on where those flowers and greens are grown. We also support consumers who enjoy flowers regardless of their origin. For the former group, programs like Certified American Grown and CA Grown are valuable programs. For the latter group, the market should provide a range of convenient choices at affordable prices year-round.
When Certified American Grown representatives requested a position in the 2019 Fun 'N Sun program session, CalFlowers offered them the entire Saturday morning program slot. The group respectfully declined the Saturday venue and accepted one of the programming slots on Friday morning. We are pleased the Certified American Grown program is part of this year's Fun 'N Sun convention.
CalFlowers has been concerned with the manner in which American grown floral products have sometimes been promoted in the press and to state and Congressional legislators.
Implying that American consumers are not discriminating if they don’t make their floral choices based on origin, or disparaging cut flower products based on their origin, are two approaches we do not support.
CalFlowers has a "consumer-centric" view of the floral market, and we work to provide consumers with wide choices of flower types, regardless of origin.
Consumers vote with their purchases; legislators vote – period. And when legislators vote for regulations, they can have serious, anti-competitive impacts on markets by restricting consumer choices and causing price increases that can result in a shrinking market.
CalFlowers will enthusiastically support pro-competitive legislation at the state and national levels. CalFlowers will likely oppose legislation that favors one segment of the floral industry at the expense of other segments of the floral supply chain, and legislation that restricts consumer choices for floral products and cut greens.
Good public policy should be based on evidence and analysis. CalFlowers will proactively reach out to legislators and members of the press with evidence to support our positions.
See also this CalFlowers' statement on their new Legislative Advocacy initiative.
For more information:
CalFlowers
www.cafgs.org