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Growing Greener Together

AFE Connects the Floriculture Industry with Sustainability Through Comprehensive Research Guides, Expert Resources  For over six decades, the American Floral Endowment (AFE) has represented the entire floral community, providing and sharing free resources to everyone, thanks to the generosity of donors. As the industry’s leading charitable organization, AFE receives and collects donations to invest them, generating funding that advances floriculture through research, education, and special programming. Recently, the Endowment began a new project that aims to further that growth, this time focusing on helping industry members approach and become more actionable with sustainability. Sustainabloom is a research-driven program created to provide in-depth guides and resources about sustainability developed by top researchers in the field. The information is housed efficiently within our…

Sustainabloom Launches New Website Providing Sustainable Practices in Floriculture

The American Floral Endowment (AFE) is proud to announce the launch of the new Sustainabloom website, providing comprehensive guides, practical strategies, and industry insights aimed at fostering sustainable practices at every level of floriculture.  The website, www.sustainabloom.org, is a research-driven hub of resources designed to empower businesses of all sizes to assess where they are and where they can enhance their sustainability efforts. With a focus on environmental stewardship, resource optimization, and collaboration, Sustainabloom addresses the increasing demands for sustainable products and practices in the industry. Established in 2022, Sustainabloom is a collaborative project dedicated to leading the floriculture industry towards a future enriched with sustainable practices at every level. In partnership with NC State University, over 800 documents, reports, and editorials regarding sustainability in…

Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI) Spotlight

The Floriculture Sustainability Initiative was initiated in 2012 by 25 stakeholders in the floriculture sector, the founding members of FSI. They share the goal of finding more sustainable solutions for farmers, for the environment, and for the future of the sector, and set themselves the ambition to have 90% flowers and plants responsibly produced and traded by 2020. In 2013, FSI was established as an independent international non-profit association under Belgian law (aisbl), supported primarily by its members and through project funding. From the start, IDH the Sustainable Trade Initiative was the convenor and one of the major donors to enable the start-up process of FSI. Today, FSI is still actively collaborating with IDH taking part in the IDH Fresh & Ingredients program. In…

FloraLife Sustainability Plan 2025

It has never been as important as it is today to track and reduce our footprint on the planet. Growing, processing and distributing flowers use many resources to guarantee that high quality, beautiful fresh cut flowers reach the hands of consumers. FloraLife has focused their sustainability plan on 5 key commitments to reduce our impact on the planet and help all their partners, big and small, reduce theirs too. The 5 FloraLife commitments are climate change, water stewardship, product portfolio, sustainable packaging and stakeholder awareness. Floral industry waste impacts almost all areas of sustainability. Putting measures in place to reduce it should be top of mind. Every stem requires land to grow, water to hydrate, products to treat, energy to…

2024 Survey on Sustainability in the U.S. Floriculture Industry

Calling All Floriculture Business Owners, Managers, or Sustainability Officers! A research team at NC State University, in partnership with the American Floral Endowment – is administering a new survey to explore the scope of sustainable practices among flower growers, wholesalers, retailers, transporters, and floral suppliers. The findings of this study will help determine opportunities for future educational efforts, research needs, and other resources enhancing sustainability in floriculture. The survey closes on April 30th, 2024. The survey delves into aspects of floriculture businesses throughout the United States, including scale of operations, current sustainability measures, motivations driving sustainability activities, and challenges. All information provided is strictly confidential, and results will only be disclosed in summary form.Survey results will be used to discover where gaps still exist for new sustainability…

Florverde Sustainable Flowers

Florverde Sustainable Flowers is one of the most complete standards in the market, based on more than 20 years of experience in the development, promotion and responsible implementation of sustainable agriculture practices. It audits and contributes to the continuous improvement of producers throughout their value chain at social, environmental and economic levels; It also has social level approvals with the Rainforest Alliance and Global G.A.P. at the environmental level, among other stamps of international relevance. Currently in Colombia there are 2,215 certified hectares, leading to 40% of exports being certified under this seal. See more from Florverde' recent presentation here. Social Component Florverde Sustainable Flowers meticulously audits the social component of the supply chain. This commitment to fair and ethical…

Partnering to Cultivate Sustainability Across the Global Floral Industry

The American Floral Endowment (AFE) has become the newest Associate Member of the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI). This partnership unites AFE, a prominent US-based floriculture funding nonprofit, with FSI, an esteemed international nonprofit with a focus on sustainability. Through AFE’s membership with FSI, this new partnership will strengthen the floriculture industry through collaboration, sharing experiences, and broadened perspectives.  “Sustainability is hugely impactful and affects floriculture globally. By joining forces, we are expanding the impact and effectiveness of both of our initiatives and programs,” stated AFE’s Executive Director Debi Chedester, CAE. AFE is an autonomous organization with a clear vision supporting a strong, unified floriculture community fostering industry innovation and growth to better connect people to flowers and plants in everyday life. Founded in…

Make New Sustainability Practices Your Business Reality

Sustainability isn’t just water conservation or recycling; it can be so much more, such as sustainable investing or creating culture first leadership, says Dr. Melinda Knuth, assistant professor of horticulture at North Carolina State University, speaking at the 2023 Floriexpo convention in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Dr. Knuth is co-leading the American Floral Endowment’s floriculture sustainability project with NC State’s Dr. Brian Jackson. Read more about the project here: https://sustainabloom.org/about. “Some of these practices may be familiar or have existed for some time but have new products that are reinvigorating the category. Some practices are completely new ideas that have come about in the last year.” Dr. Knuth says. During an education session at the business-to-business floral show, Dr. Knuth shared some of…

The Driving Forces of Sustainability

Remember when organic labels appeared before an official organic definition? We are at the same moment with sustainability. Sustainability can be thought of as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” as defined by the 1987 United Nations Brundtland Commission, yet details in this space are certainly lacking. The semantic openness of sustainability is not something to be managed or eliminated, and it doesn’t lead to meaninglessness. Instead, this is a moving, living definition. For AFE’s floriculture sustainability project, we offer framings of pre-existing notions of sustainable development and use calls to action to transform theory into practice for stakeholders. At the same time, we have to be careful…

The American Floral Endowment Launches New Collaborative Project

The American Floral Endowment (AFE) has announced a new special Floriculture Sustainability Project to provide education and resources to the floral industry. Partnering with like-minded organizations, the Endowment’s new project aims to create usable assets, identify new research needed, and close the gap in making sustainability an accessible initiative for all segments of the industry. The Floriculture Sustainability Project: By identifying and understanding the big picture of what’s already out there, what’s working, and what’s not, the Endowment aims to compile new resources, share success stories, bring together experts in both academia and industry, and provide action plans for businesses large and small. Industry certifications have already provided an incredible amount of information for those seeking to validate their sustainability practices. Building upon these,…

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