Flower grower Lyn Bayfield will never forget the feeling of relief after she posted a call for help on social media and her community drove to the rescue.
She had just had a van-load of flowers and foliage rejected by a wholesaler.
But a pop-up Saturday sale at Eumundi Roses’ farm gate, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, turned her tears into smiles.
“Oh, you have no idea, five cars at a time pulling in, everybody happy, smiling,” Ms Bayfield said.
“We sold everything that we had to go to Brisbane, we sold everything that Dad cut that morning.”
The day before, Lyn, her husband Barry and her dad Graeme Etheridge, who is still farming aged 86, were deeply distressed.
“Barry will tell you I swore, I cursed, I cried, I didn’t know what to do,” Ms Bayfield said.
The couple were forced to drive back to the wholesaler in Brisbane through heavy rain at half past three in the morning, to pick up flowers and foliage they’d delivered earlier.
The rejected flowers included hydrangeas. (Supplied: Lyn Bayfield)
Queen Anne’s Lace. (Supplied: Lyn Bayfield)
Lisianthus. (Supplied: Lyn Bayfield)
Conifer stems. (Supplied: Lyn Bayfield)
And other foliage. (Supplied: Lyn Bayfield)
“We delivered the flowers, they were accepted and then two or three hours we got a phone call to say the operations manager had rejected the lot,” Ms Bayfield said.
She was told that they wouldn’t be paid, and their oriental lilies didn’t meet specifications because some of them were open.
“They said come and get them by eight o’clock in the morning or they’ll be dumped,” Ms Bayfield said.
The rejected delivery of more than 100 fresh-cut bunches included roses, Asiatic lilies, delphiniums, lisianthus, chrysanthemum and Queen Ann’s lace.
For almost 30 years, Graeme Etheridge has prided himself on the quality of his cut flowers.
This rejection made him want to throw in the secateurs.
“Oh yeah, I was ready to give it away,” Mr Etheridge said.
“It floored me because I’ve always grown something that I really think that people will enjoy.
“You can get so much rubbish these days, so many flowers are imported.”
Rejections ‘not due to quality’
Australia’s horticulture industry has long complained of having fruit and vegetables rejected by commercial buyers due to strict specifications that have created millions of tonnes of waste.
Peak grower group Ausveg said in a statement that “growers feel many of these rejections are not due to quality or failure to meet specifications but because the retailer has overestimated the amount of produce they require”.
And Anna Jabour, the chief executive of Flower Industry Australia, said the flower industry was not immune.
“Wholesalers can just reject a load and not pay flower growers,” she said.
“It really highlights to me the power imbalances within the flower industry.”
Flower growers are grappling with increased production costs and, since tariffs were slashed in 2010, there has been a flood of foreign imports.
“It’s really cutthroat in the flower industry,” Ms Jabour said.
Australian industry shrinking
Industry analyst Ibis World reported a 41 per cent decrease in revenue for the Australian grown flower industry between the 2006-07 and 2021-22 financial years — dropping from $448 million to $265 million.
In that same time, the value of imports increased by 408 per cent, from $19.4 million to $98.7 million.
“Over the last 20 years, growers have just been absolutely decimated in Australia, particularly rose growers,” Ms Jabour said.
In the 2022-23 financial year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded $9.3 million worth of fresh cut flower exports and $103 million worth of imports.
The lack of country-of-origin labelling makes it hard for consumers to know where flowers are coming from.
“And overseas flowers can be grown on farms where modern slavery is rampant — they’re very cheap to grow,” Ms Jabour said.
“I’ve heard of five cents a stem for imported flowers, Australian growers just can’t compete.”
Ms Bayfield decided to make the best of the bad situation and posted on her farm’s social media page when her flowers were rejected.
Explaining the situation, she invited locals to buy them at their farm gate for $10 a bunch.
“I think they were all pleasantly surprised, actually, because they had to be wondering, is it really damaged or not?” Ms Bayfield said.
“And they came here, and it was just first-grade.”
“I received a bunch last night. It’s one of the most beautiful bunches I’ve ever seen, and the smell is delightful,” one customer wrote on the farm’s social page.
“So proud of everyone who supported you, power to the hearts of community, people power, well done,” said another.
Ms Jabour said that many small growers had flourished by selling directly to florists, and, like Eumundi Roses, had discovered locals loved buying from farm gate stalls.
“I just love this story to be honest and I think it really shows that people want to buy local and support local businesses,” she said.
Mr Etheridge said that the profit margin was slim, but it had given him the confidence to keep cultivating.
“It’s a good feeling to know that people would appreciate the flowers that we could give them,” he said.
“And, I like to keep busy — damn it all, I’m 86 years old. Now the kids tell me I should be retired and give it away and come on you’re too old.
“No, I’m not! I just like working, I always have.”
By cutting out the middleman, Ms Bayfield said customers also benefited by being able to access fresh flowers at wholesale prices.
“That was the big thing that got me was we just made people happy who were already depressed because they don’t have enough money to buy even a bunch of flowers,” she said.
“The smiles, it was just the smiles, it was worth doing for the smiles.”
