You’re not going to eat them, so why bother to buy organic when it comes to flowers? Three good reasons are worker safety, your safety, and environmental health.
Conventionally grown flowers are often heavily treated with pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Many flowers sold in the U.S. come from Central and South America, where laws regulating pesticide use are much less stringent than here. Workers who spray, weed, and pick flowers are often exposed to pesticides. Retailers who handle a lot of flowers are also exposed to pesticides and skin-irritating floral preservatives. And you can be too when you bring home your lovely bouquet, smell the flowers, and cut the stems to fit in your vase.
Using organic methods in agriculture is important to the environment no matter what the crop is. Conventional fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides pollute the air, land, and water, and kill off beneficial insects and soil microbes.
Finally, organic flowers complement the vegetables on a diverse small farm. The flowers provide nectar for bees and beneficial insects, drawing them in so they are there when we need them to pollinate or combat pests on our food crops.
Flowers may not be food, but they are part of our agricultural ecosystem. Your choice to buy organic supports a healthy system that values stewardship of the land and care for the people who are working to produce your flowers.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
