FIA speaks to Chris Taylor on ABC Radio Sydney

Source: ABC Radio Sydney

May 2, 2023. Interview at 1:47:21

James Valentine: A question for anyone who is partial to buying flowers, whether it be as a gift or maybe you own a business or a house that just likes the presence and beautiful smell of fresh flowers. The question is, do you care where those flowers come from and would you be more likely to buy flowers if you knew they were grown locally here in Australia. Currently almost half of the flowers sold here in Australia are imported but there are moves to help flower lovers buy local by putting a rubber band around all locally grown flowers. The Chair of Flower Industry Australia, Michael van der Zwet is here to tell us what difference this might make to local growers. Good morning Michael.

Michael: Good morning Chris.

James Valentine: Tell us about this initiative started by Flower Industry Australia to actually mark Australian flowers as Australian.

Michael: It’s all come about because we had a huge decrease in the number of flowers grown in Australia because we couldn’t compete with the likes of Kenya, Ecuador and Colombia. From 2007 to 2021, the latest figures we got, there was a 408% increase in the number of cut flowers being imported and a 66% decrease in Australian flowers growing in Australia.

Listen more at this link. Interview at 1:47:21

Buy the flower bands at this link.