Vol. 15 No. 3
Fall 2002

Costa Rican Fern Farmers Go for the Green

By Chris Wille

Farm workers benefit from
Rainforest Alliance certification's
strict agrochemical controls.
Photo by Chris Wille

The next time you brighten someone's day with flowers, pause a moment between the florist's shop and the door of your loved one to reflect on the origins of the bouquet. Don't worry, many responsible shoppers and environmentalists do this kind of thing. First, consider the flowers, which -- especially if they are roses -- probably came from hothouses in Colombia, Ecuador or another rainforest country.

What about the greens that make the presentation luxuriously complete?

Many bouquets are enveloped in ferns, which are grown under black plastic screens in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Florida and California. Costa Rica is the world's leading exporter of the smooth, dark green fern known as "leatherleaf." Shaped like a drawing of a Christmas tree, this fern lasts in the vase long after the bloom is off the rose.

Unfortunately, the methods used to grow leatherleafs and other fern types is often less than benign. Fern farms, like all agriculture, can cause environmental problems, such as water pollution and deforestation. The Rainforest Alliance and its partners in the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), a consortium of nine leading environmental groups in Latin America, have demonstrated that any farm can be made more eco-friendly. Progressive fern producers in Costa Rica are adopting the Rainforest Alliance's sustainable farm management system.

Through a four-year-long process of research, experimentation and field trials, the Alliance and the SAN developed standards for responsible flower and fern farm management. The standards cover all of the SAN's principles for sustainable agriculture, including ecosystem and wildlife protection, water and soil conservation, worker health, safety and rights, proper handling of wastes, and making sure that farms are good neighbors to rural communities and wildlands.

In August, after months of improvements, investments and repeated inspections by program auditors, nine fern farms in Costa Rica were awarded the Rainforest Alliance Certified green seal of approval -- the first fern or flower farms in the world to meet the program's exacting standards. These farms, varying in size from a few hundred square meters to 30 hectares (74 acres), sell their production to the exporting company Floreal S.A.

According to Christian Steinvorth, the Costa Rican general manager of Floreal, the company is committed to winning certification for all of its farms, which represent 17% of the 1650 hectares (408 acres) planted in ferns in the country. Most of the ferns are shipped in cooled containers to Europe; only 7 to 10% of the production is sold in the U.S. Leatherleaf sales bring $52 million to Costa Rica and the farms employ 6,000 people at salaries above the rural average.

In order to win certification, the farm managers had to put strict controls on agrochemicals and show tight management and decreasing use of pesticides. Workers on certified farms are protected from agrochemicals, trained to recognize the dangers of pesticides and have access to medical care.

According to Rainforest Alliance staff auditor Sandy Vargas, a specialist in labor conditions in the fern industry, women who pick, sort or pack the ferns are afforded extra protection. Some farms had to remodel their packing stations, eating areas, bathrooms and other facilities to improve worker health and safety. All farms had to implement measures to protect rivers and water sources. All had to begin training and environmental education programs.

Diego Berrocal, Floreal production manager, says that the changes were costly, averaging $20,000 per farm, and made during a difficult year for the industry with prices down due to global overproduction. Winning certification is a proud achievement, Berrocal says, "but we consider this certificate only our ticket to enter a long-term, permanent process of continual improvements on the farms to benefit the nature that supports us, our workers, our communities and our clients."

• To join the Rainforest Alliance in improving the social and environmental practices of businesses worldwide, become a member today!

The mission of the Rainforest Alliance is to protect ecosystems and the people and wildlife that depend on them by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. Companies, cooperatives and landowners that participate in our programs meet rigorous standards that conserve biodiversity and provide sustainable livelihoods.