The Current Era:  1994 to Present

The Current Era begins for the California flower industry with one important disruption and one significant milestone.  The milestone is that imported stems, largely from Colombia and Ecuador, solidly account for the majority of cut flowers consumed in the U.S. market.  While this shift had been underway for more than a decade, especially with the market’s three most popular flowers (i.e., roses, carnations, and pompons), the imported flowers would grow the market to an unprecedented size.

The important disruption was the introduction of the Internet in 1993.  Although it took about a decade for industries, including the flower industry, to incorporate this important technology into business practices, it was the beginning of a radically different way to promote, buy and sell flowers in the U.S. market.

The California population grows another 25% between 1993 to 2015 and remains more populous than the 22 least populous states in the Union.

Especially noteworthy about the Modern Era is how attractive it was for California floral start-ups.  Of CalFlowers’ current 180 voting California members, 53% of all current members started in the Current Era (see Chart #1).  Growing California flowers was also very attractive given that 50% of the 118 CalFlowers’ grower members in the state started in the Current Era (see Chart #2).

1997
Redbook Florist Services acquired Teleflora, making Teleflora the world’s largest floral wire service.

2006
Dahlias make the list of million-dollar producers on the Santa Barbara County Agricultural Production Report.

California producers market cut flowers and foliage worth more than $330m.

2014
Certified American Grown program is launched.

2016

California voters pass Proposition 64, legalizing the growing and production of marijuana for recreational use beginning 2018.

95 current CalFlowers California members started in business during the Current Era, representing 53% of today’s membership – 50% of CalFlowers California grower members started in business during this era.

When Current CalFlowers Members were Founded