I often run into people who say, "You work with flowers? What a stress free job!" If they only knew! All industries have their issues but flower growers have to tackle many of the hot topics of the day. Among the hottest are:


Ecuadorian Roses and Pesticides

Ironically as US citizens become more conscious of environmental issues, the majority of flowers entering the United States are coming from countries with no holds barred environmental laws. Recent reports show Ecuadorian roses entering the US with pesticide residues of chemicals banned in the US. Also reports of pesticide poisoning of the employees is unsettling with up to 60% of the employees showing signs of pesticide poisoning. Chemicals banned long ago in the US as deadly are still being used in foreign fields, and reintroduced to your nose via imported flowers. Remember that your vote on this issue is with your flower purchase dollar. Spend it on imports, and they will grow.

So Are All Pesticides Bad?

Seldom are things as simple as chemicals are bad, organic is good. When you have strep throat, you need that bactericide (antibiotic) to get better. Animal fecal matter pollutes water as surely as any chemical fertilizer. The key is balance. At 2G Roses we treat chemicals as medicine using the least amount of the softest material as infrequently as possible. We introduce "good bugs" to eat the "bad bugs" and use environmentally friendly practices such as IPM. For more on this take a look here.

What do you mean WATER is toxic?

If you choose to spray water on your plants to water, great. If you choose to spray water on your plants with the intent to kill pests, you have to register water as a pesticide. The process is expensive and time consuming and must be repeated for each crop you want to apply it to. This causes corporations to not want to register simple to copy control measures. Understandable, why spend millions to register a product that you cannot profit from? Instead what you need is a super complex molecule that can be patented. This leads to high grower costs and questionable environmental policies which makes offshore imports more attractive, which reintroduces long forgotten toxins back into the US. Ironically this is where many well intended environmental groups inadvertently create an environment in which foreign competitors have an advantage over the locally controlled and regulated group.

Which is more profitable, cocaine or roses?

The Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) passed in 1991 and has been repeatedly extended even as it fails to meet its benchmarks. It removed trade barriers from drug producing countries such as Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. This was done to stimulate trade in legitimate products. In return the U.S. government received promises of strict drug enforcement policies by the participating countries. The idea was simple enough; honest business instead of drug trafficking. Decreased acreage of cocaine and heroin producing plants replaced by legal flowers. It didn’t work. In fact drug production has increased dramatically.

Estate taxes are not just an issue for the rich

When we think of estates we think of Bill Gates passing on billions of dollars, or a wealthy family dynasty living off one successful ancestor for generations. We seldom think of a wheat farmer, dairy man or flower grower. Yet farmers will be hurt dramatically by the current estate tax laws. For example, a family owns a 10 acre flower operation. Over the years the family has improved the raw land by planting wind breaks, installing irrigation equipment, heating equipment, farm buildings and improved soils. The appraisers say that with the recent housing development in the area, the land is worth 5 million dollars. The business makes less than 1 million in total sales but is the livelihood for the family and dozens of employees.
The problem is that when the head of the family dies, the estate taxes due are 2 million dollars. Unfortunately they do not have 2 million available. The only way to pay the tax is to sell the land to the developers and a tradition dies. Also the vacuum created by less domestic flowers will be filled with the environmentally questionable foreign imports.

But I heard many farms pay no estate taxes

Recent studies pointed out that few farmers are affected in the end with estate taxes. This misses the point completely. First I would say that 50,000 estates a year is not a small number. More importantly to prevent being wiped out by the IRS, farmers hire attorneys and accountants to 'get around' the tax. Common options are transferring land out of the name of the older members to the younger members, taking out life insurance policies to pay the tax debt, and other legal shell games.
At one point the single most costly "employee" of our company was the insurance premiums paid on our founders life. The only way for us to survive as a farm was to insure his life for enough to pay the tax. The amount was large, so the premium was larger than our top salaries. Our founder half heartedly joked that if he didnt die within 10 years, we would pay more in premiums than we would receive in benefits. This is money that I was not able to invest in plants, or salary raises, or additional hires. NO we will not pay estate tax according to the latest study, but only because we paid ahead of time.

Where does 2G Roses Stand?

We at 2G ROSES have no problem with environmentally friendly policies. After all my house is right next to the greenhouses and I don’t want to die prematurely any more than the next guy. Over a third of our employees have been with us over ten years and I feel that comments on the quality of our workplace. What we feel is needed is a balanced approach to governing.

We at 2G ROSES want to see the day when all flowers are more fairly priced and that those who toil in the fields make as much for their efforts as the commodity buyers and sellers. To that end we feel the “factory direct” concept is here to stay and that communication breakthroughs like the web will make this idea a feasible reality for small and large growers alike. As we streamline and perfect the shipping process, we look forward to containing costs and making top quality flowers available to everyone.