Jeroen Oudheusden, in charge of opening the Sustainability Panel of this event and Executive Officer of the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI) stated that Florverde is among the best floriculture seals in the world, saying: "We have been doing a comparative evaluation of the 16 main certification schemes since 2013 and Florverde Sustainable Flowers (FSF) complies with all the required good agricultural practices, social and environmental criteria that we measure. Apart from that recognition, the quality of the FSF indicators makes this seal very complete and is effectively supporting certified farmers to become more sustainable".
He made this statement during the WF&FSA Floral Distribution Conference in Miami. The conference, which was held in the second week of March, gathered the main fresh-cut flower producers and traders from countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, the United States, the Netherlands, Japan, and Mexico, amongst others.
The FSI is a global initiative and currently gathers approximately more than 100 of the main members of the floriculture sector. This organization aims to promote transparency, responsible production and trade, positive impact, and the enhancement of the floriculture supply chain at an international level.
Daniela España, director of the FSF seal, assured that "we are proud to provide a special seal for the flower-growers that caters to the needs and challenges of the sector, which is, today, one of the oldest, most comprehensive, and specific flower socio-environmental certifications. This seal has been classified by FSI as covering all main scopes and is complete in terms of sustainability at international level. Likewise, the Consumer Good Forum recognized us in its Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative as a transparent certificate that ensures ethical practices and social responsibility".
During her intervention at the panel, the director of FSF spoke about the responsibility that buyers, distributors, and traders of the sector have in matters of sustainability and the need for them to understand that only they can stop greenwashing practices.
Furthermore, in her speech, España addressed other issues, such as the flower-growing chain's efforts to keep reducing the carbon footprint of the sector and the need to create awareness among final consumers.
The Sustainability Panel also included the participation of Melanie Spilbeler, Managing Partner of Freshpath Marketing; Mark Allen, Sustainability Manager of FloraLife; and Ralph DeBoer, co-owner of the flower farm Rosa Flora (Canada).
During this event Florverde announced its sponsorship to Sustainabloom, an initiative of the American Floral Endowment (AFE) that aims to advance scientific studies that contribute to sustainability in the sector. Sustainabloom, which unites the efforts of AFE, NC State University and the Freshpath Marketing Agency, also seeks to disseminate end-customers of fresh-cut flowers.
"This will be a merger between science, communication, and marketing to create awareness prior to buying flowers. We shall support this initiative with research resources from the FSF seal", said España
Currently, FSF is certifying farms in Ecuador and is evolving to comply with the purchasers and European entities such as FM group and DFG.
For more information:
Floriverde Sustainable Flowers
www.florverde.org