MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
In the U.S., the bulk of cut flowers you find in shops are imported, so tariffs imposed by the Trump administration could cause local florists to look for homegrown alternatives. But meeting that demand could be challenging, as St. Louis Public Radio's Marissanne Lewis-Thompson reports.
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MARISSANNE LEWIS-THOMPSON, BYLINE: Walking up the gravel road through the iron gates of Queen Bee Blooms' flower farm, you're instantly hit with the intoxicating smell of fresh flowers.
I can smell it already.
ELIZABETH FICHTER: Uh-huh.
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FICHTER: OK, I'm going to make you put on glasses, the way I see things. We're going to stop right here. How's that sound?
LEWIS-THOMPSON: That's the Queen Bee herself, Elizabeth Fichter, who goes by her nickname, Luli. Her 164-acre Spanish Lake floral paradise in St. Louis County is filled with all sorts of goodies, like viburnum, lilac and cherry blossoms. Fichter does not rely on imported bulbs or other products to keep her farm up and running. She planned to expand, but her hopes for a grant from the USDA evaporated in February.
FICHTER: I mean, I had a couple hours of just elation. And then the next morning, the news was that all the funding was being clawed back.
LEWIS-THOMPSON: Flower farmers like Fichter, who do not rely on imports, could stand to benefit from the Trump administration's across-the-board universal tariffs as imported cut flowers become increasingly expensive. Roughly 80% of cut flowers sold in the U.S., including heavy hitters like roses and tulips, are imported from places like Ecuador, the Netherlands and Colombia. Farmers say the best thing people can do is take advantage of the flowers that are native to and seasonally available in the U.S. and not subject to tariffs. But Fichter says meeting the demand from local florists will be a challenge.
FICHTER: You can't have it both ways. You can't try to drive business back to this country while not helping us be ready for it.
LEWIS-THOMPSON: Mimo Davis is co-owner of Urban Buds. It's an urban flower farm in St. Louis. Davis has been in the flower farming game for 30 years.
MIMO DAVIS: It's kind of a wait-and-see kind of moment, which is maddening for the flower farmer because everything we do is a year in advance.
LEWIS-THOMPSON: Right now, she and her crew are trying to navigate a new level of uncertainty. Her farm relies on imported bulbs and tubers, and thinking about what the tariffs will mean long term weighs on her.
DAVIS: It would mean cutting back, becoming smaller. I'm already a small farm. How small can I be?
LEWIS-THOMPSON: The tariffs and USDA cuts affecting small farms and florists are heightening a decadeslong problem dating back to the '90s. The U.S. promoted flower growing across South America as an economic incentive during the war on drugs. Tariffs were eliminated from cut flowers, and flower farming in Ecuador and Colombia exploded. Mom-and-pop glass greenhouses in the U.S. couldn't compete and closed their doors. In fact, the greenhouse that Urban Buds' co-owner, Davis, later bought was one of them. Southern Illinois florist Ammari Bourgeois is the owner of Noon + Moon Bloom Co., a small, Black-owned business. She says the latest round of tariffs are a hard pill to swallow.
AMMARI BOURGEOIS: We do already have contracts and things planned out for our future. So I think initially, it was a little bit of worry, like what am I going to do in this situation? How is that going to affect us?
FICHTER: But because she gets some of her stash from local grower Urban Buds, she's one step ahead. As the Trump administration's back-and-forth on tariffs continues, people who work in the floral industry remain hopeful that there's a solution on the horizon that will benefit small farms, florists and consumers.
For NPR News, I'm Marissanne Lewis-Thompson in St. Louis.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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