Slow Flowers

Slow Flowers

Formation	2014 (2014)
Membership	600
Founder	Debra Prinzing
Website	slowflowers.com

Slow Flowers is a movement promoting the support and purchase of American-grown flowers in the United States. Similar to the Slow Food movement — aimed at preserving local, sustainable food and traditional cooking — Slow Flowers encourages consumers to consciously purchase cut flowers grown locally, seasonally and ethically in the United States, instead of purchasing flowers imported from other countries or flowers grown using chemicals and pesticides. The philosophy behind slow flowers is apart of the wider slow movement. The Slow Flowers Community was founded by writer and author Debra Prinzing in 2014, and the movement has since spread internationally.

The Slow Flowers Movement

The inspiration behind the philosophy of Slow Flowers can be traced back to author Amy Stewart’s book Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful (2007), which provides an in-depth look into the global flower industry. Among its revelations, the book sheds light on the genetic engineering and breeding of flowers, the exploitation of workers, pollution and the importation of cheap flowers in the flower industry.

Imported cut flowers account for 80 percent of flowers sold in the United States. This contrasts to 1991 when American-grown flowers accounted for 64 percent of the flowers sold domestically. However since then, and shortly after the introduction of the Andean Trade Preference Act, 50 percent of North American flower farms have gone defunct due to U.S. flower farms being unable to compete with the cheaper prices of flowers grown in South America. Sustainably grown flowers often cost more to produce which means they can be more expensive compared to imported flowers. Imported products are not generally required to meet the same environmental and labor standards as crops and products grown domestically. Additionally, country of origin labeling laws are not enforced, so the origin as well as ethical and environmental footprint of flowers is largely unknown. However, it has been stated that stiffer regulations are now in place in Colombia and Ecuador’s industries with bans on certain chemicals and minimum wage requirements.

The number of flower farms selling cut flowers domestically increased almost 20 percent between 2007 and 2012 from 5,085 to 5,903, according to the USDA. In a bid to garner support for flowers grown and sold domestically in the U.S., in 2013, the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC) established the Certified American Grown task force for the U.S. flower industry and thus, in 2014, the commission created the Certified American Grown label as an identification system for American-grown flowers. The label has since been placed on the sleeves of blooms sold in grocery stores including Trader Joes, Whole Foods and Safeway.

Slow Flowers Community

At its core, Slow Flowers was established to promote the conscious purchase of buying and sending locally and sustainably grown flowers in the United States. The Slow Flowers Community has 600 members. Members of the Slow Flowers community are predominantly small-scale growers, producers and designers who are working to transform the flower industry by leveraging the field-to-vase or locally grown flowers philosophy.

External links

• Official website