Why aren't our flowers organic?

I believe in being transparent and honest about our products, and know that labelling is vital to informed consumerism. We talk a lot about our environmental credentials and Organic is synonymous with 'environmentally friendly', so why are we not organic?

The short answer is that as a business you can only say your produce is Organic with a legal certificate of registration from an approved organisation. This involves an annual fee, annual inspections, and adhering to strict rules and requirements for all inputs (compost, seeds, plants, not just fertilisers and pesticides!) And so the short answer is that we are not certified so we do not grow organic flowers!

We have considered converting our land to organic status several times, and in order to "see if we could do it" have applied the principles and conformed to the rules, noticing where the 'tricky' areas are, and we can do it on a practical level. It's not easy - seeking organic options is time consuming and can be expensive - and I have huge respect for certified organic farmers.

What has held us back from certifying? I really hate admin and the administrative requirements are significant! Recording processes and provenance of inputs, getting permission for non-organic inputs, it's next level paperwork for me! At the moment our record taking is set by us and the pressure is limited. I would need to take on an administrator to manage the certification paperwork, and to do that I would need to sell more or increase my prices. Would being organic mean I'd sell more or could justify a higher price? Well I'm unconvinced that in west Cumbria new markets would open up, but that is an assumption!

We don't want to feel restricted or feel the need to be in a 'club' but we would like a clear transparent label for how we grow. As regenerative systems become more commonplace maybe other certificates or standards will be created? For now being self-regulatory works for us. As we grow, this may well change.

We grow our flowers using no chemicals, building healthy soil, respecting the environment and wildlife, and hope you understand that for now, for real, practical reasons, our flowers are not organic.

-Harriet x