ROSES ARE RED

“Roses are red and violets are blue.

Sugar is sweet and so are you”

If only love and courting in the 21^st century were so simple.

The vast amount of choice and the gambit of implications arising from those choices, makes today’s consumers’ purchases complicated. Purchasing flowers and red roses in particular are no different.

While sales of all flowers go up at Valentine’s day, for those who wish to express passion for their wife, partner or girlfriend, nothing speaks as loudly as red roses. So the sale of roses leaps in the run up to Valentine’s Day and so unfortunately does the price.

NZ rose growers more than satisfy the demand during most summer months, however despite pruning to create peak production for Valentine’s day, production falls well behind demand and the volume of imported roses rises dramatically, volumes from India rising somewhere between 15 to 20 times and those from Colombia rising about 3 times.

So the NZ purchaser is faced with a choice of roses from three countries, locally grown NZ product or imported product from either India or Colombia. What are the merits and implications of buying from each of these three sources?

Colombia, situated at the top of South America sits just north of the equator and encompasses the northern end of the great Andes mountain chain which runs the entire length of South America. High on the mountain plateaus are locations perfect for growing the large- headed Colombian roses renowned and prized the world over. It is the coldest time of year in Colombia [frosts may occur] slowing growth of the roses but making the flower heads as big as they get and weighing 2kg to 3 kg per stem. While the global demand for Colombian roses means their roses grown for Valentine’s day are all ordered before Christmas, there are considerable implications around the purchase of these beauties, not the least being price: - they are expensive.

Rose production in India is a little further north of the equator on elevated plateau land located in the centre of the Indian peninsular around the city of Hyderabad. While it is a good time of the year for growing roses in India the pressure from insects is very high, meaning an intensive pesticide spraying regime and increased probability of a bio- security breach. The plateaus in India are nowhere near as high as those in Colombia so the conditions for producing very large heads do not exist. Indian roses tend to be small headed but they are however very price competitive.

Given the enormous volumes of roses leaving both Colombia and India for global markets pre Valentine’s day, Logistics problems such as delays at airports etc. inevitably occur, meaning that travel time increases and product detiorates more than usual.

Growing conditions in NZ are also good at this time of year with good sized heads produced at competitive prices. New Zealand’s isolation means we do not have the insect and disease pressures that other producers have so the need for spraying is less. Many NZ growers use varying degrees of biological pest and disease control. There are NZ rose growers situated from just north of Auckland, south of Auckland, north of Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Bay of Plenty, near Nelson, around Christchurch and further south on the Canterbury plains as well as on the Taieri plains south of Dunedin.   So most of the NZ population has local growers nearby, which brings to mind the issue of carbon foot prints.

A 2007 publication from the- ‘University of Cranfield’- in the UK looked at the carbon footprint for roses grown in Kenya and flown to Europe [Schiphol airport in the Netherlands],  estimated 12,000 roses produced 6,000 kg of CO₂ – about ½ kg per stem. Flights are direct from Kenya to Europe and take about 8 hours 30 minutes. Flights from Hyderabad in India to Auckland take 15hrs 30 minutes with a stop. Flights from Bogota in Colombia to Auckland take 20hrs 20minutes. Immediately it can be seen that the carbon footprint for roses from both Colombia & India is large. Also for both Colombia and India there would be some days travel in temperature controlled trucks prior to reaching the airport. A further consideration with Colombian roses is the small number per box due to the large size of individual flowers, compared with those from India.

Also of course imported product must be treated according to the regulations of NZ biosecurity to prevent the entry of unwanted organisms. While NZ Flower Growers are happy with the present biosecurity requirements, they do not believe all requirements are fully adhered to, especially those relating to the devitalisation of rose stems by dipping in roundup.

While the NZ growers cannot compete with head sizes coming out of Columbia and the ridiculously low wages paid to agricultural employees in India make price competition with Indian roses a challenge,  they have a number of advantages overall.

Most NZ product is delivered overnight in buckets with water, versus dry packed in boxes flown in aircraft for many hours. There is no requirement for them to be dipped in roundup. They have a very small carbon foot print compared with their imported counterparts.  Most have a good head size. They are sprayed less and best of all they have a far longer shelf life than imported roses.

For more information on this press release from the NZFGA please contact [email protected]