Farmgirl Flowers Coupons & Promo Codes April 2024

One of these opportunities to learn has been with our flower sourcing. When I decided to purchase solely American grown flowers, I made that decision based on research - which showed that the industry was struggling, and on my heart - which told me that it was the right thing to do. Growing up in a community where the importance of agriculture is paramount, and to a family that instilled the importance of helping whenever it was in our power to do so, made this mission hit home for me. I knew it would be difficult, because if it wasn't, everyone would be doing it - and they weren't. Traditional flower companies were sourcing predominately from outside of the US, but I thought that was simply because of lower costs. I didn't for a second think it couldn't work because of supply. I naively thought that the American flower growers would see me riding in on my white stallion with my checkbook flailing and think that I was there to save the day. I might even have imagined I was wearing a superwoman cape in that scenario (but let's keep that between you and me!). I presumed that my interest in supporting their businesses, and commitment to pay on time without terms would be met with resounding applause. I thought the state flower commissions that are in place for the purpose of educating American consumers to choose to purchase American grown flowers would be our biggest allies. I truly thought that I was going to help the American flower farming industry. And to some extent, I believe we have. But not in the way I thought we would.

I have learned that the US flower industry, like many industries, has always done things in a particular way and, for the most part, isn't eager to change. The sale cycle for flowers goes from grower to wholesaler, wholesaler to retailer, and retailer to consumer. I wanted to do it differently and buy direct from the farmer. What I didn't understand, but quickly learned, was how hard and, in some cases, impossible it was going to be to persuade many large scale growers to break that model and sell to us direct. I thought the fact that we were willing to buy larger quantities than many of the wholesalers would be enough. It wasn't. While we have many amazing farms who are willing to sell to us, we've unfortunately maxed out their capacity for high quality flowers. We've tried everything short of begging (although we've toed that line). I've realized that we are spinning our wheels trying to support an industry that doesn't actually want our help. Many large farms will not sell to us directly because the large wholesalers have told them that they will pull their accounts if they do, and the farms aren't willing to take that risk. It's a classic anti-trust issue, but I don't want to fight. I wanted the growers to understand how hard we were fighting to help rebuild their industry and, in turn, be excited to work with us to do just that. But that just didn't happen.