This Valentine’s Day, many Australians will dash to buy flowers for their other half.
With cost-of-living pressures, supermarket blooms are a tempting option.
But that cheap bouquet comes with hidden cost — one that local flower growers say they’ve been pushing to reveal for years, with little to show for it.
Flowers from Woolworths, an Australian supermarket chain. (ABC News: Meg Powell)
Cheap flowers flown around the world
Peak body Flower Industry Australia (FIA) estimates half of the flowers sold in Australia are imported.
That figure includes most flowers sold in supermarkets.
In 2022–23, Australia’s cut flower imports hit $103 million in value, up from pre-COVID levels of $73 million in 2019.
Imports are mainly grown in Kenya, Ecuador, China, Malaysia and Colombia, where labour costs are low, and supply chains less than transparent.
Flower Industry Australia chief executive Anna Jabour says customers have a right to know what they are buying. (Supplied: Flower Industry Australia)
FIA chief executive Anna Jabour believes imports have been whittling down the local industry for decades, unable to compete with what some have called slave-like labour conditions and poorly regulated chemical usage.
“Over the past 20 years there’s been a 40 per cent decrease in flower growers in Australia, particularly rose growers have been hit the hardest,”
she said.
“I’ve had conversations with people who used to work in the factories that have the imports, that they’re being told to put together bunches for five cents a stem.
“That’s 50 cents a bunch; growers can’t grow flowers for five cents a stem.”
Bunches of flowers sold under ‘Smith Street’ brand at Coles. (ABC News: Meg Powell)
Chemicals for border security
Before any of those blooms make it to Australian shores, many of those imported stems are dipped in a polarising weedkiller called glyphosate.
Australian biosecurity regulations require a number of flowers and foliage, including roses, chrysanthemums and carnations, to be soaked in the herbicide for 20 minutes.
In a statement, the federal Department of Agriculture said the usage of such chemicals was made safe by regulation, both internationally and domestically.
The practice, called devitalisation, is to ensure unwanted diseases aren’t introduced and plants can’t be propagated in the environment.
They’re also treated with another chemical — methyl bromide — before they’re boxed, and air-freighted to Australia.
While that process is mandatory, it’s not mandatory to tell customers on the label of their flowers.
Label on a bouquet of flowers from Coles. (ABC News: Laurissa Smith)
Coles has not responded when directly asked why they do not alert customers when flowers had been dipped or sprayed.
Three years ago, Coles supermarkets sold flower bunches with a label identifying if they were local and/or international.
That has since been replaced with a caution on the inside sleeve of the wrapping.
The label now declares the flowers are not for human and animal consumption and that some plants may cause skin or eye irritation. Flowers sold at Woolworths include a similar warning.
Previous labels on Coles’ supermarket bunches included a source on the back of a peel-off care sticker. (Supplied: Flower Industry Australia)
In a statement, a Woolworths spokesperson said the supermarket adheres to all labelling requirements.
“Our flower suppliers are all Australian based. We understand for certain varieties and at key times of the year, they will import flowers from their own suppliers overseas,” the spokesperson said.
“The Department of Agriculture sets the biosecurity requirements that all importers are required to follow.”
Labelling limbo
One of the only other clues that a bouquet may have been chemically treated is the flowers’ country of origin.
But, while many foods in Australia must adhere to country of origin labelling, no equivalent exists for commercial cut flowers.
Local growers have been pushing to have this changed for two decades with little traction from the federal government.
The last attempt was back in 2020, when a government review decided not to expand the labelling system to include products other than food.
Kathy Sheehan bunches flowers using her green and gold bands, denoting they’re Australian made. (ABC Rural: Kim Honan)
Kathy Sheeran is a grower at Burringar in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales and says the industry is at a big disadvantage because of it.
“You are seeing farms close down, because they can’t compete.
“If I was a florist I would have an Australian-grown section and an imported section, give consumers the choice.”
Two years ago, FIA began circulating green and gold rubber bands to help identify local blooms.
Ms Sheehan started using them this week and she’s spreading the word.
“I have strategically placed our flowers next to a supermarket, so people can actually see the difference between the plastic wrapped flowers, as opposed to the flowers cut that morning.
“It’s just education. They might be a bit more expensive, but they’re going to last a lot longer, they’re fresh, spray-free and local.”
The major supermarkets aren’t required to show country of origin labels. (ABC News: Tom Joyner)
A right to know?
Ms Jabour wants consumers and florists to know what they’re buying and where they’ve come from.
“I’m not advocating for it to be removed, I’m advocating for transparency,” she said, referring to the chemical treatment process.
“I don’t think people should be touching these flowers, but they don’t even have a choice when it comes to knowing what’s on them.”
Coles did not respond by deadline.
The Lynch Group, Australia’s largest importer of fresh cut flowers and the major supplier to the big supermarkets, did not respond to requests for comment.
