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. This failed policy has been championed by both Democratic and Republican administrations. 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.

My Farm Is Not a Factory


In California farms are coming under the umbrella of many environmental laws that were designed to monitor factories. Factories are able to measure pollution at the "pipe" that comes out of the factory. However a farm doesn't have a pipe. Yet we are supposed to measure our "point source" pollution. Quite frankly, this is not possible. The government solution has been to offer us a choice. Figure out how to measure the immeasurable or pay into a fund in which they will measure for us. We pay into this fund, and so far it has produced zilch.

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.