Workers place supports for flowers in a greenhouse using hydrophonic growing systems at The SunValley Group growers in Oxnard, CA. The company will provide about 100,000 flowers to the Rose Parade this year. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles News Group)
In California, a coordinated effort is underway to encourage a 125-year-old American tradition to include more homegrown flowers.
More than 80 percent of the 2016 Rose Parade float flowers were purchased from international farms in Colombia, Ecuador and the countries of Southeast Asia, executives from several float builders recently told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Float company executives told the Tribune that the dependence on product grown overseas isn’t a new trend — and that it’s related to lower prices and greater availability on the global marketplace, not the ongoing drought in California.
“We get 90 percent of our roses from outside of California. It has been that way for 15 years,” explained Tim Estes, president of Fiesta Parade Floats, a company building 11 floats for the 2016 Rose Parade in Pasadena on Jan. 1, a job that required him to source about 40,000 roses. (He worked with growers in Colombia.)
More California growers and groups, however, are pushing back, pointing out that the venerable parade is intended in part to be a celebration of California agriculture and should quite literally return to those roots.
Reliance on out-of-state product “has changed what the Rose Parade is about — it doesn’t have that focus on California agriculture,” Bill Prescott of Sun Valley Floral Farms in Arcata and Oxnard, California, told the Tribune. “Because California has so many different climates and ecosystems, we have a huge variety of flowers that can be grown.” The Sun Valley Group is providing about 100,000 flowers to the Rose Parade this year.
On New Year’s Eve, the Buy California Marketing Agreement and the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC) will recognize faculty and students from Cal Poly-San Louis Obispo and Pomona for their commitment to the state’s growers. The Cal Poly float will be “California-Grown Certified,” an honorary designation indicating that at least 85 percent of cut flowers and greens were sourced from the Golden State, according to Kasey Cronquist, CCFC Executive Director. (In fact, the Cal Poly team credits 94 percent of its product to California fields.)
California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross, California’s Assembly Majority Leader Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) and U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-24) will be at that ceremony, which will also honor FTD Inc., the official floral partner of the parade, for its decision to include California-grown product in the official VIP vehicles.
“We are excited to be certifying this year’s VIP parade vehicles as California Grown,” said J. Keith White, FTD education consultant and lead designer for the Rose Parade VIP vehicles. “FTD counts on the high quality, locally grown flowers from California every day, and the Rose Parade is a perfect place for us to highlight our commitment and support for California’s local flower farms.”
