Despite the down economy, California still leads the nation in exports like technology, fruit, and dairy. The state is also the country's number one exporter of cut flowers. But don't let that ranking fool you – today, almost 80 percent of the cut flowers sold in the US are imported. That has California flower growers struggling to compete.
KALW'S Katie Jennings went to the San Francisco Flower Mart, the biggest of the five remaining flower markets in the country, to talk with growers about their changing business.
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NICK NEVE: There used to be over a hundred roses growers in California back in the '80s, '70s to '80s, that was the thing to do, that was where you made money in the flower industry with the roses if you had greenhouse space. And now there's probably about 12 or 13 of us left.
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