A recent Reuters’ news story about an Ecuadorian rose farm taking up cannabis production had some in the floral industry wondering: Will flower producers in Ecuador go the way of some California farms, which uprooted flowers in favor of cannabis?
Probably not, say importers and wholesalers with ties to farms in Ecuador, where cultivating cannabis was legalized in 2019. While a small number of rose farms are planting cannabis or even blueberries to diversify their crops after rose sales plummeted early last year, many producers have no interest growing cannabis, says Elena Diaz, farm liaison for the wholesaler Kennicott Brothers Company.
Regulations and investments in infrastructure are a deterrent, Diaz says. And, the location of some farms aren’t conducive to the best daytime and nighttime temperatures and humidity levels to produce a flourishing cannabis crop, Diaz says.
Still, the potential for a shift to cannabis may be attractive to some growers because it’s an emerging industry in the country. The legalization of cannabis with less than 1 percent THC has presented opportunities for Ecuadorian businesses to import, cultivate, store, transport, process, market and export the crop for industrial use. Cannanbinoid is extracted from the plant and used to relieve anxiety, chronic pain, nausea and insomnia.
The crop may have been particularly attractive to growers last year when Covid-related shutdowns initially resulted in a lost demand for roses during two of the biggest floral holidays — Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Producers threw away flowers and ripped out plants or gave rose bushes a hard prune to delay production. ExpoFlores, the Ecuadorian Flower Growers and Exporters Association, estimated that 10,000 jobs were cut and $130 million in revenue was lost.
The industry quickly rebounded thanks to an unprecedented consumer demand for flowers. Ecuador’s flower exports were $417 million from January to May, an increase of 3 percent compared to the same period last year, according to a report from ExpoFlores. Exports in May were $87 million, 2 percent higher than last May, according to the report.
Those numbers have producers focused on growing more roses. Many farms that had ripped out rose bushes last year are now replanting and even increasing production areas, says Lenny Walker, vice president of sales and operations for Kennicott Brothers.
Even if farms don’t seem interested in growing cannabis, Walker and others say they’ll be monitoring the growth of the cannabis industry in Ecuador.
Oscar Fernandez, director of sales at Equiflor, says he’s been watching the issue, but it hasn’t been a cause for concern.
He does expect to see more producers such as The Boutique Flowers farm in Tabacundo, which was named in the Reuters’ article, integrate cannabis into their farms.
“This is not the only person — and not the last person — to do this,” Fernandez says.
Amanda Jedlinsky is the managing editor of SAF Now.
