I had the pleasure of speaking with Gerald recently about his progress and accomplishments with Organic Bouquet, helping to establish a new type of floral certification, living a vegetarian lifestyle, the purchase of Organic Style from Rodale, and even more. Read on to find out more about this revolutionary company and its dynamic founder.

Green Options: Having previously helped to establish exponential growth in the organic produce category with your previous company, what lead you to believe that flowers were the next thing in green?

Gerald Prolman: The floral category had been overlooked by the natural products retail sector. At that time (2000), there was no commercial supply of organic flowers to distribute on a national scale. Awareness for the need for organic products beyond food was minimal. I used to hear all the time "Why organic flowers, we don’t eat them?" Most people didn’t realize that a significant amount of chemicals are used to grow flowers. People gravitated to organic products initially for personal health concerns over pesticide residues in their foods, but there is more to organic than healthy foods. Organic is an environmental farming method that applies to all areas of agriculture whether it is tomatoes, cotton or flowers. I believed that people would make a responsible choice in their floral purchases if an organic alternative was made available. That is what I set out to do.

GO: In an interview last year, you mentioned that OB had a new major organic development in Mexico - how was that progressed?

GP: The grower in Mexico is still testing and perfecting organic farming methods before he imitates a large-scale organic project. Other growers in California, Oregon, Holland, Israel, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Colombia are in varying stages of development from recent start-up to full scale production.

GO: Organic Bouquet helped to establish Veriflora certification; how does this system differ from USDA Organic standards?

GP: All the flowers we sell are grown in a manner that is gentle on the earth and safe for the farm workers, wildlife, and the ecology. We feature flowers that are grown under certified sustainable farming practices, including Organic and Veriflora. Organic is regulated and defined by the USDA, and refers to an ecological farming system that builds rich, fertile soil, and utilizes natural defense mechanisms to combat pests and plant diseases. Organic is specifically an environmental farming method, but does not address the social or ecological aspects involved in farm management. Also, there are significant challenges commercial growers face, like pests and fungus, that can easily wipe out entire crops, so a grower cannot blindly start an organic system without the proper tools and information to address the many real crop threats that growers face.

After meeting with dozens of growers in more than five countries, and seeing that there were numerous eco/green certification programs to meet the needs of a variety of markets and different considerations around the world, it was clear that not one standard, including organic, addressed all the complicated issues surrounding the floral trade. I thought that the industry and consumers would be well served to have a standard that helped growers get on a path to becoming organic, and at the same time address all the issues concerning the environment and well-being of the farm workers.

So, having known about Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), an accomplished developer of sustainability standards and certification programs, I approached them to see if they would take on the task of developing a standard for the fresh-cut flower trade. They agreed, and then I organized a group of industry leaders including growers, wholesalers, retailers, and industry experts, to serve in an advisory capacity providing guidance in the creation of the Veriflora standards. We now have a comprehensive standard that accomplishes our objectives. Veriflora is America’s first Green Label certification standard for the floral industry. Although the standard is not organic and does allow limited low-impact synthetics on a case-by-case basis, it requires basic organic practices, with specified transition times to help a grower become fully organic over time. The standard also addresses many other essential issues relating to sustainability management practices, including water resources, ecosystem protection, management of wastes and hazardous materials, social responsibility, packaging materials, energy resource management, product quality and traceability.

I believe that the market introduction of Veriflora certification will lead to a future in which retailers will insist that all flowers they merchandise will be sourced from farms that maintain the highest social and environmental standards. This will cause a tipping point, and drive a complete shift in horticultural practices. Our goal is to offer flowers to consumers that meet duel certifications including both certified organic and Veriflora. We have numerous projects in the works and plan to fully achieve this goal by 2009.

GO: How has Organic Bouquet helped to develop organic US flower growth?

GP: The goal was to establish the market for organic flowers where commercial supply was non-existent and consumer awareness was minimal. For the past seven years, Organic Bouquet has been devoted to organizing a regionally diverse network of growers. This has involved creating supply in several countries while stimulating demand on a national scale. As a result, increasing supplies of eco-flowers are emerging from flower-growing regions around the world, and consumers today are asking retailers to carry certified flowers. I am glad to see there are a lot of people doing good work in this area, and I am quite proud that OrganicBouquet.com is at the forefront of this movement.

GO: It has also been mentioned that you are a vegetarian, a diet that significantly treads lighter on the earth. What drove you to transition to this lifestyle and how do you prevent meaty temptations?

GP: It’s a long story, and a gross one, but you asked. I will give you the short version, though, and can best describe my transition to vegetarianism as an evolution of my own development and awareness.

I used to eat animal and fish products. I started working in a kitchen, and, at a young age, became a professional chef and learned how to cook them; in fact, I owned a natural meat and poultry business that I started 29 years ago. In that experience, I picked up my products in slaughterhouses and was horrified and disgusted by what I saw. Nonetheless, it seemed sort of normal, and I accepted the process as it was considered by most a morally acceptable practice. I did not know anything different. Nonetheless, my conscience was always bothered. I have a close friend who was, and still is, a vegetarian and he told me a scary thought many years ago: that I was eating "dead flesh," and that I was putting a product of "death" in my body. This notion really creeped me out, but old habits are hard to break.

The shift for me happened on one day when I was reading to my nearly three-year-old son Julian a children’s story about farm animals. I stupidly mentioned to him as I was turning a page that had nice sweet pictures of the animals that for my job, I used to sell those animals for people to eat. I don’t know why I did that, but he then started to cry and told me with tears running down his face, "Papa- never read me this story again." I became a vegetarian at that moment, and have been that way for the past 17 years. I have never had a temptation since, although I did think that I liked the taste of smoked salmon, but have happily replaced the prized topping of my bagels and cream cheese with smoked tofu, and I am totally happy. That said, I am working towards becoming vegan now, so the cream cheese will soon have to go. This is a tough one.

GO: Organic Bouquet acquired the Organic Style brand from Rodale last month. How do you plan on developing the company in comparison to the previous incarnation of Organic Style magazine?

GO: OrganicBouquet.com will continue to build the eco-floral market, under the Organic Bouquet Brand, and is now expanding beyond flowers. We have purchased the Organic Style brand from Rodale for this purpose. Organic Style will launch an Eco-Living Portal in advance of the 2007 holiday season, to offer flowers, gifts, and a range of products across multiple categories including gourmet organic foods, gifts for gardeners and nature lovers, travel accessories, bed and bath, apparel, cosmetics and body care, fair trade artisan crafts, home decor, and gifts for the eco-pet. All the products sold on the site will be either certified organic, transition to organic, bio-dynamic, sustainable, Fair Trade or a new category we call "not certified but worthy." We will introduce a vetting system for the products we market, and only promote products that have exceptional social and or environmental benefits.

We are aiming for Organic Style to become the new ‘eco-lifestyle’ destination for people seeking high-quality products that encourage the well-being of the planet and humankind. To help get the word out, we plan re-launch the Organic Style magazine in the second quarter of 2008. We plan to initially publish the Organic Style magazine quarterly and offer it as a free OrganicStyle.com customer benefit. As we gain experience publishing the magazine, we will explore further distribution plans. The magazine will offer readers a sense of source by making a direct connection with the producers of organic and artisan products. We want to give our customers information that will be valuable in their lives, that will help them make informed decisions about a balanced and responsible way to live and celebrate life. After all, encouraging life is the essence of the organic farming principle.

GO: When shopping for flowers online or in-stores, what certifications should we look for?

GP: "Organic" under the USDA label or an accredited USDA organic certifier i.e. QAI, CCOF (there are many now), "bio-dynamic" under the Demeter label, and "sustainable" by Veriflora.

GO: What do you say to the folks that still believe global warming is just a myth?

GP: You got to be kidding! What cave did you crawl out of? Maybe I would be a little more polite and suggest they see Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth or Leonardo DiCaprio’s The 11th Hour.

GO: Do you have any other nifty, secret projects in the works that you could hint at?

GP: Yes we have dozens of exciting projects in the works, but we will report on them in our monthly newsletters as they materialize. All our efforts lead towards a day when there is no tolerance for any agricultural product that is not responsibly grown. We want to quickly see organic supplies increase, and the market support its growth. This will benefit farm workers, the farm owners, retailers and consumers. It is my hope that as soon as possible, sustainable practices become the standard: that the floral industry completely eliminates the use of harsh chemicals, the well-being of farm workers is first and foremost, and that the growers who take these steps will be rewarded by a market that supports them.