Fair Trade Certified Flowers

Fair Trade Certified flowers make vibrant bouquets and help farming communities thrive. Fair trade flower workers receive fair wages and benefits that allow them to give back to those around them through health care, education and loans.  Flower industry workers earn poverty-level wages, making less than half of what is needed to meet basic needs and face these realities.

  • 55% of women workers in Ecuador’s flower plantations have been the victims of some form of sexual harassment in the workplace;
  • 66% of Colombian and Ecuadorian flower workers suffer from work-related health problems. -pesticide abuse is rampant; flower workers experience higher-than-average rates of premature births, congenital malformations, and miscarriages
  • 70-80 hour work weeks are common in the high season. For more visit: U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project

In an industry where women often face discrimination, Fair Trade farms encourage women workers to pursue leadership roles, and also receive paid maternity leave and a guarantee of their job upon their return. Fair Trade flowers are grown without harsh pesticides and growers use agricultural techniques that promote a healthy environment.  Although there are still reports of labor abuses on some plantations that produce Fair Trade Certified flowers (click here to learn more), higher consumer demand for Fair Trade Certified flowers can help empower workers to alleviate those problems.

Don’t be fooled by imitators

Certifications like Veriflora, Rainforest Alliance, and USDA Organic are great in moving toward environmental sustainability. But just because commodities are produced organically, that doesn’t mean that the workers aren’t exploited in the process.

Look for these Fair Trade Certified labels: 

Fair Trade Federation    Fair For LifeFair Trade AmericaFair Trade USA
Fair Trade International

 

Buy Fair Trade Certified Flowers: