First Sustainably Grown Fair Flora-Labeled Plants Purchased by Exporter

Fair Flora, a label for plants and flowers that visually indicates their sustainable and responsible cultivation using star ratings, has had the initial batch of its sustainability-rated plants purchased by the first exporter, Noviflora.

The ornamental horticulture exporter from Honselersdijk, made the pioneering purchase of the first plants marked with the Fair Flora label, in a development that demonstrates the label’s comprehensive consumer-focused transparency. This is the first time that consumers are afforded such kind of transparency.

The Sustainable Plant Label

The introduction of Fair Flora’s sustainable plant label meant that consumers are able to experience its benefits for themselves. And HouwenPlant, Fachjan, and VDE Plant became the first three nurseries that chose to label a large quantity of their plants with this new sustainability label. 

These companies have, consequently, made significant progress in measuring their environmental footprint, implementing improvements, and offsetting carbon emissions in recent years. As a result, they are able to demonstrate and validate the sustainability of their products with data. After all, sustainability is currently a key issue in the plant and floriculture industry.

Just recently, each of these nurseries launched their first product line of plants under the Fair Flora label to introduce consumers to this brand-new sustainability system. More Fair Flora lines from these growers will soon follow suit. 

Other nurseries that carry the Fair Flora label include Bestplant, Reijm Nieuwerkerk, Smit Kwekerijen, Tesselaar Alstroemeria, Van der Hoorn Orchideeën, and Van Riel.

The Fair Flora label displays between 1 and 5-star ratings, and the more stars a product bears, the more sustainable and responsible the plant is. The stars are intended to guide consumers to easily recognize sustainably grown plants at a glance, which has previously, often been unclear when purchasing the plant products.

Consumer Awareness Has Led to Major Chains Enhancing Their Sustainability Efforts

Being the first exporter to purchase Fair Flora-labeled plant products, Noviflora has made a strong statement on the importance of sustainability in the plant and flower industries. Managing Director of the company, Ringo Veenman, noted that growers are today responding more to the necessary sustainability developments with Fair Flora. 

Ringo Veenman:

"Sustainability is becoming more and more of a prerequisite, especially in the markets where we operate, such as Scandinavia and Switzerland. Consumer awareness is increasing, causing major chains to raise the bar for themselves. If you are not transparent about your products, you may not be able to supply them in the future. HouwenPlant, Fachjan, and VDE Plant are anticipating this and are also engaging in dialogue with others about how this should be done. As Noviflora, we are excited to support initiatives like Fair Flora because these entrepreneurs are taking a bold step forward."

Ringo indicated that the first Fair Flora plants will reach consumers through garden centers and supermarkets in Scandinavia and Switzerland in the coming period. The plants, he added, will also be differentiated in the market to ensure that the Fair Flora story resonates and raises more consumer awareness. 

As a company, he added, Noviflora looks for a universal standard to make the sustainability of products transparent. And the Fair Flora system is definitely a bold step in the right direction. 

What Is Fair Flora?

Fair Flora is a European organization that aims to market sustainably grown plants throughout Europe. It has a transparent and 'fair' label that calculates and provides transparency in sustainability and the ecological footprint of a flower or plant. Currently, the Fair Flora label is applicable to plants, but flowers will also soon be labeled.

Fair Flora’s mission, in collaboration with growers, is to bring zero-emission plants to the market and to offer consumers sustainable products, and its consumer label is only assigned to the products of growers who are committed to making the floriculture industry more sustainable by reducing their own footprint. To determine the success of the system and make improvements if necessary, the participating nurseries and growers are also required to maintain close contact with their customers.

Essentially, through its mission, Fair Flora contributes to innovation in the plant and floriculture sector and the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Feature image by @aylettnurseries, and header image by @meergroothandel.nl_planten