View from de Vries' Farm

Small-Scale Flower Growers Have Tough Row to Hoe

Unlike many of his neighboring growers in the Santa Barbara area, de Vries shuns the wholesale trade and sells only to farmer’s markets, which offer him the best return for his modest operation. 

Six days a week, de Vries, his son and son-in-law take turns traveling to markets throughout Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, selling calla lilies, delphiniums, irises, gladiolas, Asiatic lilies, Peruvian violets, baby’s breath, myrtle, Transvaal daisies, godetia and tuberose, among others. Tulips, however, are his specialty. Each year, he plants 125,000 bulbs that he buys from a wholesaler in Amsterdam. One of his big cash crops are Aladdin tulips, whose sharply pointed buds open into flame-like petals. These beautiful specimens have customers digging into their wallets in order to take a bouquet home. For the few people who feel that flowers are a frivolous use of money that could otherwise be saved (http://www.lovemoney.com/savings/), there are many who appreciate flowers for their scent and aesthetic beauty. They make a wonderful gift and can brighten an entire house. The exotic and colorful flowers that de Vries cultivates, especially.

De Vries’ selling points are quality and freshness, for which customers pay a premium price, and still return for more. "People are always complementing him on freshness," says de Vries’ wife, Gerda.

Despite his good reputation, not all is well in de Vries’ floral paradise. As with many other small farmers, his future looks increasingly competitive and uncertain.

The main problem: some big growers have discovered the profitability of selling flowers in farmers markets. They are not cheaters, but they have the ability nonetheless to underprice farmers like de Vries in his own market niche.

The plight of the small flower farmer is one of the research specialties of Desmond Jolly, an agricultural economist at the Department of Agricultural Economics at (UC Davis,) and director of the university’s Small Farm Center. "I hear two different stories," he says. "The product is quite labor intensive, so it costs quite a lot" to bring flowers to market. The second problem, he adds, is that "prices are declining over time."

Flower farmers are not without recourse, say experts in the industry. Farmers can protect market share by growing unusual flowers, or going into ornamental sidelines such as floral arrangements, or even growing high-priced, non-floral crops. But it remains to be seen whether these strategies can sustain small farmers, or offset the incursions of larger growers.

Hampered by NAFTA

NAFTA also poses a challenge. The free-trade agreement does not directly impinge on growers like de Vries, as imported flowers can’t be sold at certified farmers markets. But NAFTA has enabled Mexican and South American growers to compete very effectively with the giant hothouses, including some of de Vries’ bigger neighbors.

Undercut by a flood of imported flowers, the big local growers are now sending family members certified to sell in new venues with affluent buyers and big markups: farmers’ markets. "People obviously see where the money is," says Mark Sheridan, who manages the five markets affiliated with the Santa Barbara Farmers Markets, where 30 out of a total 80 vendors sell flowers.

The practice is legal, because the sellers are generally properly certified. But the big growers enjoy economies of scale, as well as the advantages of high-tech growing environments, which are either unavailable or undesired by small growers.

Although such sales are likely only a minor profit center for the big growers, such incursions can hurt small growers like de Vries. "Large commercial growers can dump bulbs for $2 apiece that we sell for $6," he said.

He believes NAFTA has made small growers like himself vulnerable to dumping. "The government is not doing much for us. If you can prove that you have been harmed by (NAFTA-related trade), you can apply for partial restitution." But the paperwork is so extensive and confusing, he adds, that he doesn’t know anybody who has done it.

Foreign competitors have the advantage of being unrestricted by U.S. laws, according to de Vries. "They can use chemicals, cheap labor, cheap water. They are businessmen and I understand that. But it hurts us" in the United States, de Vries said.

Indeed, a price war is brewing among flower growers in farmers markets, because of the increased presence of the big growers, according to Jolly of UC Davis. "It’s a lot more competitive than it used to be," he says. That means a net loss for small growers, "unless they can do some kind of market development and you get consumers to buy more. If you increase demand, you can attain price stability," he adds.

But de Vries says he has limited ability to compete in price. He refuses to offer discounts or other sweeteners. "I can’t offer special rates. The price is already so low," he says.

Salvation in Innovation

Santa Barbara’s Sheridan does not see the invasion of the big growers as a tragedy, however. "It has only encouraged competition." To support the smaller growers, he adds, "we have encouraged innovation."

Doing something different, in fact, appears to be the current wisdom on how small flower growers can best compete. Even before NAFTA, Jolly points out, small farmers "had a lot competition in certain lines of flowers, such as carnations, roses, and lilacs."

Farmers learned to develop more diversity by growing specialty flowers, "so they have been able to compete rather well."

Nowadays, small growers should develop "niche" markets with unusual flowers, "especially if they are producing the types of crops that can’t be produced easily and cheaply in other countries, or even here in California," says Julie Newman, a farm advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension. The organization serves as an information clearinghouse for both growers and the general public.

Among the potential niche markets are dried flowers, herbs, and edible flowers. Also popular is the use of woody plant material suitable for floral arrangements, such as branches from flowering fruit trees. Such arrangements are "really popular for certain Asian holidays," according to Newman.

And because trends tend to catch on quickly and once-exotic flowers can quickly become commonplace, Newman recommends that farmers stay informed. She recommends that farmers familiarize themselves with many publications have grown up around producing specialty crops. Most of the publishers of those publications and periodicals, she adds, are "people are small growers who are producing directly to the final consumer"--much like growers who sell only at farmers markets.

Like Newman, Jolly believes that small farmers who can’t compete in price can compete with new products. "I also hear that if they have products like floral arrangements, and they are in a good market, they can still make a sufficient return."

"Market development," in Jolly’s view, means that farmers must learn more about marketing. In an increasingly competitive field, "there’s much more emphasis on marketing than on selling," he says.

"You have to do a better job in presentation, promotion and all the things that salespeople do," he adds.

"Larger growers often times do not want to deal with specialty crops that small growers produce, such as flowering perennials and ornamental grasses. These are the kinds of things that consumers really love," says Kathryn Miele, director of marketing, California Cut Flower Commission, a non-profit, a state-chartered, commodity promotion board. Other specialty crops include bachelor’s buttons, cosmos, and buddleia.

And just as fruit and vegetable farmers have branched into ornamental flowers like dyed sunflowers, so should flower growers branch into profitable produce, such as rhubarb. De Vries, in fact, says he grows rhubarb "for my own consumption," and occasionally for market. But he points out that the crop is difficult to grow and limited in appeal. "I don’t think you can make a living from rhubarb. It’s a little side line," he says.

Customer service is also a selling point, according to Miele of the state Cut Flower Commission. "Smaller growers can provide an extra service at farmers markets, such as care-and-handling information that would show their customers how to extend the life of their cut flowers. For instance, you have to show a lot of people that you have to recut the stem so that water can be taken into the stems. If customers have a general satisfaction with products, they will go back to those vendors."

Keeping Markets Clean

Farmers markets can also help small growers. One way is to spot the cheaters. "The other day, my competition had ferns from Florida, Peruvian lilies from Colombia and roses from Ecuador," says farmer de Vries. In April, he saw tulips--a flower that is out of season locally-- that he believes were imported from Washington state.

Why he doesn’t challenge the cheaters? "It’s hard to prove. They can say that the flowers were local, but have been kept in cold storage," de Vries said.

Market managers can help the situation by making sure flower vendors are current with their certification. In Santa Barbara, certificate holders who formerly were renewed once a year are now amended twice a year.

To get certification, farmers must present list to the county agricultural commissioner’s office indicating what flowers they are growing and when they will be in bloom. Savvy managers are now making the growers’ lists shorter and more specific. "They used to be like the Book of Hortus," Santa Barbara’s Sheridan says of some growers’ highly inclusive market certificates. And the certificates are also more specific in terms of growing seasons and harvest times. The goal, according to Sheridan, is to achieve a "lot better match between what’s in the field and what’s on the growers’ table" at farmers markets.

Market managers must be as pro-active with flower growers as with other vendors, according to Sheridan. "You know your growers. You visit them. You know what they grow." In addition, If a manager does follow-up with the county agricultural office to gain a better sense of the range of ag products that are currently in production locally.

Finally, market managers coordinate with growers so that vendors do not all bring the same types of flowers to market on the same day, according to Sheridan.

None of these suggestions, however, appear to slow the progress of the big growers into farmers markets. Competition or not, however, Newman thinks there will always be a demand for the flowers of small growers, because certain buyers will always seek out the best flowers. "Whether or not you are selling in a farmers market, you are going to get the person who will pay top dollar for quality," she says.