Month: November 2017

“It’s basically the commercial farmers here in South Morro Hills,” said Michelle Castellano, an employee of Mellano and Company, which farms about 300 acres, primarily flowers and avocados, in the northwest corner of Oceanside. “We actually see SOAR as a threat that will put commercial farming out of business,” said Castellano, one of about 30 members of the coalition called Keep Farming in Oceanside. “We are just trying to get that information out.” …

Crystal Hedgpeth, floral sales manager for Safeway’s Northern California Division, had a problem. Year after year in surveys, customers gave the store low ratings for the availability of locally sourced items. And yet Hedgpeth knew Safeway was chock-full of local products, including the California Grown flowers that made up more than half of the flowers sold in the stores. …

For Valentine’s Day 2018, consumers from Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z will be looking for flowers with a different persona than Baby Boomers. These buyers aren’t set in tradition and they don’t buy the same flowers every time they walk into a floral department. They like to explore while making their own creations; they like their flowers to speak to the uniqueness of their relationship, and not stand on ceremony. …