In the fall of 2012, the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC) embarked on the journey of designing and implementing a sustainable flower farming program for California Cut Flower farmers. This month after concluding a successful pilot project, the CCFC’s sustainability certification program, BloomCheck, launched. This program is the result of a comprehensive study, and contributions from the California flower community as well as a two-year Specialty Crop Block Grant that was initiated to help better position California’s flower farming practices as the sustainability standard of choice for consumers and the industry.
“Consumers across our country understand the high standards and the strict oversight that is involved with growing anything in California,” said CCFC's CEO & Ambassador, Kasey Cronquist. “BloomCheck was developed to make sure our farms were provided with the credit they deserve for the work they do to meet and exceed the high bar involved with growing flowers in California.”
The foundation of the program is a self-assessment workbook that addresses all of the important production issues facing cut flowers and greens farmers in California. The workbook has multiple benefits. It helps farmers identify strengths in their flower production operations. It also helps them identify areas where improvements can be made, as well as provide information on practices that can be implemented to make these improvements.
BloomCheck is certified by Protected Harvest, a third-party certifier and auditing company. Farms are encouraged to log in to the BloomCheck online self-assessment program at www.SustainableFlowers.org, complete the self-assessment and encouraged to go for their certification.
Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers is very proud to be one of the first adopters of this new program!
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