Author Archives

    Admin BloomCheck

    Posted on

    Resendiz Brothers Earns BloomCheck Certification

    Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers was one of the first three farms in the country to earn BloomCheck certification when the program started in 2013. In another first, they’ve become one of the earliest farms to renew their certification.

    Mel Resendiz harvests protea on Resendiz Brothers’ Southern California protea farm.  All photos courtesy of Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers.

    “I really felt that it was important that our customers realize that we’re dedicated to sustainable farming, that we respect the land and we’re environmentally friendly,” Diana Roy business manager for Resendiz Brothers, said of becoming an early adopter.

    Resendiz Brothers business manager, Diana Roy, played a key role in the certification process.

    Flower growers seeking BloomCheck certification undergo a rigorous third-party audit to ensure they are using best practices for sustainability when it comes to water, air and soil quality; wildlife protection; and social impacts on workers and the community. That means reducing energy use, recycling water, deploying biological pest management and taking care of employees.

    Pincushions are just one of the many varieties Resendiz Brothers grow.

    Protected Harvest, an independent nonprofit organization that certifies the sustainability of agriculture operations, does the on-site auditing to ensure growers are meeting the standards.

    Resendiz Brothers has about 180 acres under cultivation and grows more than 200 varieties of flowers and foliage. The biggest challenge in receiving BloomCheck certification, Roy said, was the documentation of the farm’s operation, things like detailed records of water and electricity use. But the recordkeeping helped the company be better able to review and evaluate its use of water and electricity.

    Other requirements came a little easier. Protea doesn’t require a lot of fertilizer, Roy said. “They like to be left alone. So when it came to chemical use, that wasn’t a big hurdle for us.”

    The protea are grown on hillsides (often steep) that make the most of the farm’s land.

    The location of Resendiz Brothers contributes to its sustainable practices. The high cost of land in Southern California forces the company to make the most of what it has. Much of its growing is done on steep hillsides, so mulching and erosion control are already necessities.

    “A lot of the reason for growing in these types of areas is that the land would otherwise be unusable,” she said. “So you’re able to buy a piece of land at a fairly good price and turn it into a floral paradise. That in itself is sustainable. It makes for a more beautiful, flourishing environment for the people around it. And it’s also really great use of the land.”

    Resendiz Brothers has influenced the popularity of protea with wholesalers and designers who now regularly use these majestic blooms.

    As for community involvement, Resendiz Brothers has always reached out by donating to local causes, helping garden clubs or inviting the public in for tours, Roy said.

    Having undergone the process twice, BloomCheck certification underscores Resendiz Brothers’ commitment to sustainability.

    “These kinds of programs have really made us go in and look at how we do things so that we can be better farmers,” Roy said.

    Posted on

    Holland America Flowers Earns BloomCheck Certification

    For Benno Dobbe and Holland America Flowers, earning BloomCheck certification further burnishes their reputation in the business.

    “We already have a very good reputation for our flowers,” he said. “This is just an exclamation point on what we were already doing.”

    Dobbe is founder/owner, president and CEO of Holland America Flowers, which grows flowers in Woodland, Washington, and Arroyo Grande, California. It specializes in lilies, tulips, freesias, snapdragons, peonies and a variety of miscellaneous flowers and greens. It employs 120 people full-time and about 75 part-timers during the tulip season in Washington.

    Owner Benno Dobbe on his BloomCheck certified farm. Photo courtesy of Holland America Flowers.

    Like all flower growers seeking BloomCheck certification, Holland America underwent a rigorous-third party audit to ensure it is using best practices for sustainability when it comes to water, air and soil quality, wildlife protection and social impacts on workers and the community. That means efficient energy use, recycling water, deploying biological pest management and taking care of employees. Protected Harvest, an independent nonprofit organization that certifies the sustainability of agriculture operations, does the on-site auditing to ensure growers are meeting the standards.

    “The audit is quite comprehensive,” Dobbe said. “It’s not something you can do overnight.”

    Dobbe gives credit to his son Ben, the company’s COO and senior sales executive, for leading the certification effort.

    Benno Dobbe with his son, Ben, who managed the certification process. Photo courtesy of Holland America Flowers.

    “Ben and our Holland America team cooperated in every way they should,” he said. “There were some minor things that needed to be addressed but everything was on the up and up.”

    BloomCheck is another milestone for the company that got its start in 1980 when Benno emigrated from the Netherlands along with his wife, Klazina, and their children. They started a cut flower farm in Woodland and added the operation in Arroyo Grande in 1986.

    The two operations give the company “a one-two punch,” Dobbe said, and allow it to specialize in seasonal flowers that flourish in the Northwest while growing year-round in California.

    His children, Ben and Nicolette, are the fourth generation to carry on the family tradition as flower growers.

     

    Posted on

    Ocean View Flowers earns BloomCheck Certification


    Ocean View Flowers has made its unique geography in the floral even more special with BloomCheck certification for its sustainable growing practices.

    Ocean View’s 500 acres are located in the Lompoc Valley, fifty miles northwest of Santa Barbara, California, where northern and southern currents of the Pacific Ocean meet to create a cool ocean breeze so kind to growing and harvesting.

    Photo provided by Ocean View Flowers.

     

     

    The farm is renowned for its stock; customers also turn to them for larkspur, delphinium, Queen Anne’s lace, orlaya, bupleurum, craspedia and Bells of Ireland. Thanks to this vast array of florals, this farm, founded in 1992, has been the backdrop for a Free People catalog shoot.

    “We are committed to excellence in the flowers we grow,” shared flower farmer Frank Costa of Ocean View Flowers. “We are proud to reflect that commitment in our BloomCheck Certification which reflects the high standards and the effort we make everyday in our sustainable growing practices.”

     

     

    Flower farmers seeking BloomCheck certification undergo a rigorous third-party audit to ensure they are using best practices for sustainability when it comes to water, air and soil quality; wildlife protection; and social impacts on workers and the community.  For Ocean View Flowers, that translates to careful seed bed preparation and critically timed drip irrigation and plant nutrients injections that improve yields and strengthen plant tissue for an improved vase life.

    Employees hand select the best flowers based on length, stem thickness, color and cut stage. They practice lean manufacturing to eliminate waste and focus on product improvements from season to season.

    Photo provided by Ocean View Flowers.


    The company also depends on a state-of-the-art cold chain management practices to custom pack each box in a 48 degree cooler with 85 percent relative humidity/dew point to reduce condensation.   

    To see these sustainable growing practices and their beautiful flowers first hand, Ocean View Flowers will be hosting an American Grown Field to Vase Dinner event on September 7th at their farm in Lompoc, CA.

    Posted on

    Sunshine Floral Attains BloomCheck Certification

    Sunshine Floral, which produces 2 million bouquets a year at its facilities in Oxnard, California, has been certified for its sustainable growing practices by BloomCheck.

    Sunshine Floral’s operation includes over 1 million square feet of greenhouses and a 15,000 square-foot warehouse. In its 25 years, Sunshine Floral has become known for its gerbera daisies, which are grown hydroponically in a computer-controlled environment and available year-round.

    “Sunshine Floral is a progressive company on the cutting edge of technology and innovative approaches,” said Anthony Vollering, the company’s chief financial officer and part owner. “As a company, we want to make sure we follow the best practices and be a steward for the environment. BloomCheck is a way for us to ensure we do everything correct and according to recommendations from a well-informed source.”

    Anthony Vollering, Sunshine Floral’s chief financial officer and part owner, chose BloomCheck to reflect their farms’ commitment to the high standards of sustainable growing practices.

    To earn BloomCheck certification, flower growers undergo a rigorous third-party audit to ensure they are using best practices for sustainability when it comes to water, air and soil quality and wildlife protection. That means reducing energy use, recycling water, deploying biological pest management and taking care of employees.

    The certification lets retailers and consumers know that the companies they’re engaging with are environmentally and socially responsible.

    Protected Harvest, an independent nonprofit organization that certifies the sustainability of agriculture operations, is responsible for the on-site auditing to ensure flower and greens farmers are meeting the standards.

    “Congratulations to the team at Sunshine Floral,” shared BloomCheck Administrator Kasey Cronquist. “We are excited to have Sunshine join the growing list of domestic flower and green farmers who are proudly reflecting their commitment to the high standards involved with sustainable growing practices here in the United States.”

    Posted on

    Willow Creek Earns BloomCheck Certification

    Certification Attests to Willow Creek’s Sustainable Practices

    At Willow Creek, about an hour inland from Arcata, California, Sun Valley Floral Farms found the ideal growing conditions for some of its specialty crops.

    This mountain canyon is the perfect location for the Willow Creek farm, growing specialty crops such as  ilex berries, cotinus, rosehips, snowberry and viburnum. Photo Credit Lane DeVries 

    The farm is located in a mountain canyon on a wild and scenic stretch of the Trinity River at an elevation of 640 feet. Cultivated flowers thrive alongside bald eagles, black bears and salmon.

    Such a setting demands respectful stewardship. With its recent BloomCheck certification, Sun Valley Floral Farms has a stamp of approval that attests to its environmental-friendly practices at Willow Creek.

    Lane DeVries, President, CEO and Farmer of Sun Valley Floral Farms standing next his field of smokebush at Willow Creek. Photo Credit Kasey Cronquist

    “We wanted the certification to highlight to the industry and to our community that we are committed to environmental responsibility and sustainability,” said Bill Prescott, communications and marketing associate at Sun Valley. “Getting the BloomCheck certification was just a great way to get there.”

    Flower farmers seeking BloomCheck certification undergo a rigorous third-party audit to ensure they are using best practices for sustainability when it comes to water, air and soil quality; wildlife protection; and social impacts on workers and the community. That means reducing energy use, recycling water, deploying biological pest management.

    Protected Harvest, an independent nonprofit organization that certifies the sustainability of agriculture operations, does the on-site auditing to ensure farms are meeting the standards.

    Willow Creek is one of Sun Valley’s three growing sites in California. At Willow Creek, the focus is on specialty crops —  ilex berries, cotinus, rosehips, snowberry and viburnum.

    Willow Creek is home to the award winning ilex berries. Sun Valley recently took home a blue ribbon for the ilex berries at the 2018 outstanding varieties competition in Palm Springs. Photo Credit Kasey Cronquist 

    Although the BloomCheck process is thorough and demanding, the production at Willow Creek wasn’t faced with overhauling any growing practices.

    “We were pretty close,” Prescott said. “A few things had to be adjusted but our farmers are always looking for new ways to innovate and improve our operations. So, it kind of came naturally. It wasn’t a struggle, but these kinds of things do take time and effort.”

    For Sun Valley, the BloomCheck seal will tell consumers a lot about the source and quality of what’s grown at Willow Creek.

    “Consumers want to understand how their flowers are grown, where they were grown and who grew them,” Prescott said. “As you know, 80 percent of the cut flowers sold in the United States are grown in South America. BloomCheck certification is a great way to highlight to consumers that we are operating in a forward-thinking, environmentally friendly way.”

    Posted on

    Pyramid Flowers Achieves BloomCheck Certification

    For Fred Van Wingerden and Pyramid Flowers, receiving BloomCheck certification was validation of the company’s longtime sustainable practices.

    Meeting BloomCheck’s rigorous certification standards didn’t mean a whole lot of changes at Pyramid Flowers’ operation in Oxnard, California, where it grows a variety of cut flowers on nearly 100 acres and employs 120 people.

    Having sustainable practices is a way of doing business for Pyramid Flowers.

    “It was more a matter of pulling the paperwork together because we knew that for years we’ve been operating under sustainable practices,” Van Wingerden said.

    That’s a testament to the company’s way of doing business because BloomCheck has stringent standards for ensuring growers are using best practices when it comes to water, air and soil quality; wildlife protection; and social impacts on workers and the community. That means reducing energy use, recycling water, deploying biological pest management and taking care of employees.

    Protected Harvest, an independent nonprofit organization that certifies the sustainability of agriculture operations, does the on-site auditing to ensure growers are meeting the standards.

    “It’s exciting to see Pyramid Flowers being recognized for the gold standard of production practices they’ve met as a requirement for BloomCheck certification,” shared BloomCheck Administrator Kasey Cronquist. “Completing our rigorous program and audit process, Pyramid’s commitment to growing flowers and greens sustainably should be celebrated.

    One of the first farms to become Certified American Grown in 2014, BloomCheck is the Pyramid Flowers’ first sustainability certification. Van Wingerden expects it to help his company market its flowers at a time when sustainability is increasingly important to retailers and customers.

    Fred Van Wingerden and his son, Marcos.

    “We wanted our customers and our clientele to know that we operate sustainably and we wanted to have the proof of that,” he said.

    Pyramid Flowers has been in operation for more than 25 years at its farm a mile from the Pacific Ocean. It grows a multitude of novelty cut flowers for the mass market and wholesale industry. It’s also a supplier of bouquets and consumer bunches through B-Fresh Floral, a company started by the Van Wingerden family in 2001.

    Flower growing in the Van Wingerden family extends back 15 generations to the 1600s in the Netherlands. In 1967, four Van Wingerden brothers immigrated from the Netherlands to California to take advantage of the optimum flower growing environment along the coast between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. The children of the original brothers have gone to create 10 more flower growing operations, making the Van Wingerden family one of the country’s largest growers, distributors and marketers of fresh-cut flowers.

     

     

    Posted on

    Sutton Ferneries Awarded BloomCheck Certification

    For Sutton Ferneries, BloomCheck certification was a chance to complete the sustainability path the company had been on for a few years.

    And it fit CEO Michele Sutton’s vision for how the company should be run.

    The team at Sutton Ferneries worked together to align the company operations and production into alignment with BloomCheck certification standards.

    “This is the healthy way of a running a business,” Sutton said. “This is the way we want to do it.”

    Sutton had been putting the pieces in place for a sustainable operation for the past few years but had never taken the step to get certified. So, when Albertsons requested its suppliers become certified, Sutton saw it as an opportunity.

    “The preparation over the last couple of years put us in a very good place to be able to go ahead and get certified,” she said.

    Sutton Ferneries, headquartered in Doral, Florida, just outside of Miami, grows foliage on close to 100 acres in north central Florida and ships its products worldwide. It provides supermarkets with pre-made arrays of greens that just need flowers added for a complete arrangement.

    Photos provided by Sutton Ferneries

     

    Growers seeking BloomCheck certification undergo a rigorous third-party audit to ensure they are using best practices for sustainability when it comes to water, air and soil quality; wildlife protection; and social impacts on workers and the community. That means reducing energy use, recycling water, deploying biological pest management and taking care of employees.

    Protected Harvest, an independent nonprofit organization that certifies the sustainability of agriculture operations, does the on-site auditing to ensure growers are meeting the standards.

    “Congratulations to Michele and her team at Sutton Ferneries. This is no small accomplishment,” said Kasey Cronquist, administrator of the BloomCheck certification program. “BloomCheck represents the gold standard of sustainability for the floral industry in the U.S. and they should be very proud of what it says about their farm and its commitment to excellence.”

     

    Sutton said the certification process was very detailed and credits her farm manager with guiding the company through the process.

    One of the results of getting certified was getting the entire company on board with sustainability. It took a bit of cultural change over the years to put the company on the sustainability path.

    “I think the main thing you need when you go down this path is management buy-in,” she said. “Everybody has to be on board to participate and understand the practices and whatever changes you decide, all the way down to our farmworkers.”

    It took a lot training, aligning of practices to standards and documentation.

    “At the end of the day, you know it helps your business in general,” she said. “This is really, in my opinion, how you should run your business.”

    Sutton said the certification will support its supermarket business where sustainability has become a common standard.

    “I think it helps us better align with the supermarkets and their mission and objectives. And I think that it will make us even better partners with people who are looking to have a sustainable partner.”

    Just as important is what the BloomCheck certification did for the company.

    “We’re really excited that we were able to get to that place where we could qualify,” she said. “Our goal is to continue to build upon this platform with continued improvements at all levels of our company.”