Westerlay Orchids announces that it has achieved an MPS-A certificate for environmental practices. The MPS-A certificate is the highest of three MPS ratings and awarded to those horticultural firms that maintains the highest sustainable standards. Westerlay is the first orchid grower in the United States to achieve the MPS-A qualification.
Westerlay Orchids, located in Carpinteria, CA, is Southern California’s largest commercial orchid producer by volume and operates one of the country’s most technologically sophisticated greenhouses. The company currently grows and ships nearly 2 million orchids annually with expansion plans in progress. Their orchids can be found in major supermarkets and home improvement stores in the western United States as well as at exclusive retailers and hotels.
MPS, or Milieu Programma Sierteelt, began as a project in the Netherlands in 1995 to monitor and benchmark the environmental impact of the Dutch horticulture and has grown into an international organization with participants in more than 50 countries. MPS-ABC currently has 3,403 participants worldwide.
MPS Participants are required to closely monitor and track usage of CPA’s (crop protection agents), fertilizers; energy, water and waste. Participants are then benchmarked against their peers and only those achieving best results are awarded the A rating. After one year of consecutive registration an initial audit will take place to determine the MPS A, B or C qualification. Thereafter, MPS conducts random, on-site audits of participants to assure compliance.
While MPS is the horticultural industry standard in Europe, it only entered the North American market in 2009. For Toine Overgaag, President and Co-Owner of Westerlay Orchids, deciding to pursue the certification was an easy decision. “As a company we have historically always been environmentally conscious but we never had a way to compare our practices to peers. We feel that the MPS benchmarking allows us to do this. In fact, though we have achieved an A rating, through our audit we have been able to identify more ways to improve.”
Charlotte Smit “MPS is proud and happy with the MPS-A qualification of Westerlay Orchids, MPS-ABC first qualified orchid grower in North America. The dedication and willingness for continuous improvement resulted in a “perfect score”.”
Grower inquiries :MPS is proud to have quality growers such as Westerlay Orchids in their program and welcomes grower inquires in North America to the west coast coordinator, Charlotte Smit at (805) 524-9685 or c.smit@usa.my-mps.com, or to the east coast coordinator, Sandy Hering at (508)758-3008, s.hering@usa.my-mps.com.
Source: MPS