The Fair Flowers Fair Plants label will be marketed with extra strength as from 2013 by MPS foundation. This will increase the visibility and market share of the label. Through active participation in the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative the FFP foundation contributes to the further development of sustainability and broad international support for that.
In the last year, the FFP foundation and various floricultural and civil society organisations have worked together on sustainable floriculture in general and on further development of the FFP label.
At the beginning of 2012, we announced plans to transfer the marketing of the FFP label to MPS foundation and our ambitions to make a larger share of the market sustainable by collaborating on the establishment of the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative platform. In the meantime, significant progress has been made on both fronts. The FFP Board would like to inform you of this.
In the past, the small FFP organisation had too few people, too little experience and insufficient networks and resources to anchor the Fair Flowers Fair Plants label firmly in the market. Also the link between supply and sales remained capricious. A stable group of growers and traders and a large number of florists and garden centres in Sweden and in German-speaking countries use the label, but the market share is too small.
The FFP Board is delighted to announce that MPS will take on the marketing and operational activities of the Fair Flowers Fair Plants label. MPS has a long track record of experience in the area of sustainability and certification, along with a large network in production, trade and retail and an international organisation with experience in marketing sustainability labels. In the coming years, MPS will commit manpower and resources with the goal of significantly increasing the range and visibility of Fair Flowers Fair Plants in production and sales.
During the past few months, MPS has drawn up a business and marketing plan in consultation with other international floriculture companies and organisations.
Fair Flowers Fair Plants will remain the unique floricultural label that makes sustainable flowers and plants from all over the world recognizable to consumers. It especially gives florists and garden centres good opportunities to strengthen their position. Starting in 2013, Fair Flowers Fair Plants will be brimming with marketing and communication activities. First, certified growers and traders will be mobilised to offer a continuous flow of sustainable products in a wide assortment. This will make it attractive for parties at the end of the demand chain to sell products continuously under the Fair Flowers Fair Plants label. Cash & Carry organisations, ´Flying Dutchmen´ and other traders in the speciality segment, retailer organisations and sector marketing and promotional organisations will be involved in this process.
Increasing brand visibility will also take priority. Everyone in the chain must know what Fair Flowers Fair Plants stands for. With consumer-oriented promotion, MPS and its network will work on increasing awareness among the general public. Together with participating florists and garden centres ideas will be turned into sustainability concepts that will distinguish these companies. In addition, MPS and FFP will make it easier for participating parties to join in. For example, the label will also be used on bouquets which the participating traders compose from products coming from certified companies. Or on end-products delivered by the participating grower.
Fair Flowers Fair Plants' values and level of sustainability will remain at their current level, along with the way in which certification takes place. MPS will continue the cooperation with other certifying organisations that have certificates and audit protocols that give producers the right to use the Fair Flowers Fair Plants label – such as KFC-Silver, Fiore Giusto, Fair Choice and Forest Garden Products. In the future, products with certificates that perform at a sufficiently high level according to the FSI equivalency tool may also qualify for the use of the Fair Flowers Fair Plants label.
You'll certainly be hearing and seeing more about the Fair Flowers Fair Plants label in the market starting in 2013!
At the start of 2012, some 25 Founding Members took the initiative of preparing for the establishment of the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI). The objective of FSI is to expand sustainability and to develop and support a sector-broad vision on this topic. The Founding Members are companies and organisations in the international world of floriculture and civil society organisations (see also: www.floriculturesustainabilityinitiative.com/en/participants).
FSI conducts activities in four areas:
- Increasing the transparency and comparability of standards of sustainability and certification schemes in floriculture (such as MPS, KFC, GlobalGAP, Florverde and more than 10 others). An equivalency tool has been developed for this.
- Development of a platform and instruments for sustainability issues such as the reduction of CO2, water use and energy use, human rights, etc..
- Joint efforts in the support of projects in which new sustainability issues are tackled.
- Joint communication in the sector in the area of sustainability.
On 1 November, at the IFTF during the Horti Week, a meeting was held and attended by 40 people of the Founding Members and other interested parties from around the world. Here, plans were presented and the announcement was made that the FSI will be formally established at the IPM at the end of January 2013, when the first general assembly will be held.
The FFP Board is very pleased with the establishment of FSI because of the international, sector-wide and civil society support it enjoys. The ambitions and activities will contribute to the further development of sustainability in international floriculture. In the near future, the FSI equivalency tool for certification schemes will take over the tasks currently done by the FFP benchmark standard.
Various board members and people from the FFP network have committed themselves actively to the establishment of FSI. FFP is one of the FSI Founding Members end was a co-sponsor of the very first initiative.
More information about FSI can be found at www.floriculturesustainabilityinitiative.com (the presentation of the 1 November meeting can be found under 'downloads').
The FFP foundation and its board will continue to commit themselves in the future to the campaign for sustainable floriculture, and to the support of FSI, MPS and related initiatives that align with the objective.
We hope that you will participate in the FFP label in the future with even more effort and profit. Should you have any questions or comments, please contact me at info@fairflowersfairplants.com.
On behalf of the Board of Fair Flowers Fair Plants,
Sjef Langeveld, Chairman
The FFP Board is comprised of representatives from four involved parties: floricultural production, floricultural trade, unions and NGO organisations – each with both European representation and representation from southern (production) countries. The composition of the Board is currently:
- Sjef Langeveld, Chairman (previously Both ENDS, environment and development services for NGOs)
- Rolf Persson, Treasurer (BRO, Swedish floriculture wholesale and retail organisation)
- Sue Longley (IUF, international union)
- Charith Senanayake (Rainforest Rescue International, environmental NGO)
- Richard Fox (Kenya Flower Council, Kenyan producers organisation and Union Fleurs, international organisation for floriculture trade)
- Rene Kouwenhoven (FNV, union)
- Gijs Kok (Floraholland, floriculture auction)
Source: Fair Flowers Fair Plants