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Flowers & Ferns
Americans and Europeans have an enduring passion for flowers. Since the mid-1980s, growers in Latin America have been increasing their production of roses, carnations, gerberas and other blooming species to meet the growing demand of wealthier nations. Ninety percent of the cut flowers and ferns imported by the U.S. come from Latin America. While the rapidly growing floriculture industry creates welcome jobs, it is often at the expense of healthy ecosystems and the well-being of workers and surrounding communities.
In order to produce impeccable blossoms, growers tend to use liberal doses of agrochemicals, and because flowers are not food, governments do not impose restrictions on pesticide use. A flower or foliage hothouse typically uses 50 different pesticides, threatening workers' health and the drinking water used by neighboring villages.
Through a four-year-long process of research, experimentation and field trials, the Rainforest Alliance and its partners in the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) developed standards for responsible flower and fern farm management, demonstrating that any farm could be made eco-friendly. The standards conserve water and soil, and ensure that the farms are good neighbors to rural communities and wildlands. After testing the certification standards on fern farms in 2001, the Rainforest Alliance Certified nine farms in Costa Rica -- the first certified-sustainable fern farms in the world. Since then, all 29 suppliers to the exporter Floreal have achieved certification. Floreal is the second largest foliage exporter in Costa Rica, which is the leading fern producing country in the world.
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