Cut Flowers Greener

Many store-bought flowers are not as rosy as they appear. They’re often grown in other
countries where the flowers are treated with pesticides that are banned in the US. Kyle
Norris reports on a new kind of flower-certification that’s trying to deal with this issue:

Transcript

Many store-bought flowers are not as rosy as they appear. They’re often grown in other
countries where the flowers are treated with pesticides that are banned in the US. Kyle
Norris reports on a new kind of flower-certification that’s trying to deal with this issue:


There’s a new certification for flowers called Florverde . It is not an organic certification.
But environmentalists say Florverde is a step in the right direction.


Craig Minowa is an environmental scientist with the Organic Consumers Association:


“It requires roughly half the pesticide use. You can only use the pesticides that are legal
here in the United States. And the farm workers need to be given a fare wage and worked
standard hours.”


Minowa says lots of companies are jumping on-board with the new certification. Dole,
the big pineapple and banana company, is the biggest importer of cut flowers in the
United States. The company recently announced their entire line of Columbian-grown
flowers will have the new certification.


Minowa says lots of flower stores and supermarkets will be carrying the Florverde-
certified flowers.


For the Environment Report, I’m Kyle Norris.

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