When they started showing up at Whole Foods Market not so long ago, even though they were more expensive than others of their kind, according to the
Utne Reader, they "few off the shelves."
What are they? Roses. Lush,
gorgeous roses, huge roses with heads bigger than your fist. More than that, they're fair trade roses. The
farms in Ecuador on which they're grown have agreements with
TransFairUSA, agreements which ensure the flowers were produced in compliance with strict environmental and labor standards. And they're just plain
gorgeous!Increasingly, production costs are sending flower farms to other countries with far lower costs. Unfortunately, they also have far less strict labor practices. So, if you have the choice of choosing flowers that were produced on farms where pesticides are sprayed when there are workers around, or a farm that adheres to higher, worker-friendly standards, which would you choose?