A leading UK flower grower has accused the UK floral industry of greenwashing. In a blog post on the organisation’s website, Gill Hodgson, founder and honorary president of Flowers From The Farm (FFTF), says many ‘of the ethical claims made by major players in the British floral industry’ are ‘unfounded and dangerously misleading.’
After a FFTF member was placed fourth in a league table of ethical florists, Gill said she turned her attention to the three online floristry companies who had beaten them and discovered that they had paid to be awarded extra points. She also pointed out that many of the companies import flowers from Kenya and elsewhere using offsetting and misleading information, such as claiming that flowers produced in polytunnels are grown outside.
“It’s the customers’ perception of what they’re buying that’s wrong, and that has to be changed,” said Gill. “Clever phrasing and ambiguous claims have conned buyers into a make-believe world where a smiling Freddie himself cycles up the drive and delivers British-grown flowers to their door.
“This is the bit I’m railing against: not the fact that these flowers are imported, but the lengths the companies are going to, to show that they’re actually doing the world a favour.”
Flowers from the Farm was established in 2011 as an organisation to support British flower growers, Its membership now boasts ‘nearly 1,000 independent, artisan flower farmers.’