Grower Direct Is Working To Build a Better Future!

How? By supplying our customers with flowers from farms that operate in a socially responsible and eco-friendly manner. Grower Direct is supporting flower farms that invest in their people and their people’s families. Because we are family owned, like so many of our stores, it seems only right that we source our flowers from those that share our values. Imagine what the world would be like if everybody shared our values…

“Making the world a better place one flower at a time”

 Florverde is: “The Colombian Flower Industry’s Social and Environmental Program”

MISSION: “To ensure ongoing improvement in our member’s companies’ social and environmental management and performance.”

GOAL:  “The goal of Florverde is economic, social and environmental sustainability in Colombian flori-culture, through the promotion of continuous improvement.”

“Florverde is Spanish for green flowers.”

 Grower Direct & Florverde Work Together

Florverde is not just a label; it is a local program, created to address Colombian needs and international requirements that work for the benefit of the flower, growing regions, and their people. Importantly, Grower Direct sources the majority of our product from farms on this program.

Established in 1996, Florverde strives to improve the lives and living standards of floral farm workers and their families; to preserve and protect the environment for the industry’s farmers for generations to come; and to ensure high-quality, affordable flowers for customers year-round. All of which are entrenched values Grower Direct shares.

 We can all Benefit from Florverde.

Workers receive safety and training programs, fair wages, acceptable housing, and childcare and recreation time. Farms are not allowed to hire any employees under the age of 18, no ‘child labor’. The environmental practices ensure integrated pest and disease management as well as proper waste disposal and management designed to preserve Columbia’s biodiversity. Workers, their families and the way in which the environment is treated are factors, which are all extremely important to Grower Direct, and Grower Direct is proud to be a supporter of these farms.

Florverde farms only use products that are duly registered with the Colombian Agriculture Institute and licensed by the Ministry of Health and registered for use in the United States and European Union (EU). Workers are educated and trained in the safe use of these chemicals and are provided appropriate safety equipment.

Farms must go through a lengthy process to gain Florverde certification, which is verified by an independent audit company, Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) of Geneva, Switzerland. To learn more about SGS Click Here This assures Grower Direct of the integrity of the farms we work with.

 We are Committed to Social Development

Information collected through the Florverde program helps in determining needs and planning social programs designed to improve the quality of the life of the floral workers and their families. Current programs in place on many Florverde farms include:

1. Continued Education Program.
   Aimed at eradicating illiteracy among workers in the floral industry, more than 1,700 workers participated in literacy, elementary and secondary education programs in 2004.
   
   
2. Flowers are Home program.
   Conducted in cooperation with subsidized housing programs and public-private partners to help workers purchase homes. This program has benefited more than 3,600 workers since its inception in 2002 – with more than 2,000 families receiving subsidy toward purchasing a home and a goal of helping 20,000 families purchase homes in the next ten years.
   
   
3. School of Floral culture for Displaced and Vulnerable Colombians.
   Sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the school enables families displaced by violence in their country to find jobs, generate income and recover their dignity. Those who join begin as apprentices and earn salary while learning flower growing skills and techniques. After one year of training, apprentices can become permanent workers.
   
   
4. Cultivating Peace in the Family.
   Also sponsored by USAID, Cultivating Peace is contributing to building peace and tackling violence in Colombia. The program teaches workers to manage conflict in peaceful ways in the family, work and community. Since 2000, approximately 25,000 workers and their families have received training in these workshops.

Grower Direct Customers Are Helping To Make A Difference For Children

• Childcare Program.
  Consisting of high quality childcare centers on or near farms that provide daycare services for children while their parents work, more than 17,000 children benefited from this program in 2004, which is run jointly with the Columbian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF).
  
  
• Oral Health Program.
  Approximately 35,000 children between the ages of four and twelve have participated in this program and received instruction on proper dental hygiene .

Shared Social Principals:

• Looking after the people of Columbia
• Promoting health and safety in the work place
• Upholding fair labor conditions of the workers
• Encouraging teamwork and training to result in committed workers and good quality of service and product

 Shared Environmental Principals:

• Obtaining a cleaner production by using lower quantities of more environmentally friendly agrochemical inputs, such as pesticides and fertilizers and using them under safer working conditions.
• Reducing the effect on the environment by implementing better agricultural practices, such as using sustainable water sources like rain water to irrigate the crops.
• Establishing live fences and green areas to create beautiful work spaces enhancing the protection of local ecosystems.

FlorVerde Press Releases:

• What it Means to Give Roses this Valentine’s Day
  Colombian Workers Benefit From Flower Gift-Giving……. Read More
• Colombia To Ship Millions of “Green” Roses to U.S. for Valentine’s Day
  Florverde®-Certified Farms Recognized for Global Environmental and Social Standards…. Read More

Grower Direct is proud to support the Florverde Program and to offer these products to our customers. For more information on the Florverde Program please visit Florverde’s Website