Unlocking The Challenges Hindering A Clear Route To Market For Sustainable Agroecological Cut Flower Growers In The UK

Project team

Professor David Bek

Funder

Innovate UK

Collaborators

Jill Timms (Surrey University)
Zanna Hoskins (Spindle Flowers and Foliage)
Debbie Scott (East Lothian Flower Farm)
Lowri Davies (UXR Consulting)
Aaron Hirtenstein (Shepherd Stone Ltd)

Total value

£55,000 (£7,000 CU)

Duration

October 2024 – January 2026

Project team

This project tackles the important issue of how small-scale flower producers’ access to markets can be facilitated through the creation of a distribution hub model. There are many small-scale growers in the UK who are committed to more sustainable, seasonal, low input production but their access to local UK markets is hindered by the lack of a suitable trading infrastructure. The development of a distribution hub model for local flowers has the potential to open routes to market for small-scale growers, who themselves have potential to substantially increase production to meet latent demand.

Project objectives

The academic research team's overarching objective is to:

• Collect and analyse data that will facilitate the development of a hub-based supply model to increase the potential for sustainable flower production. Specifically, this will involve:
• Undertaking research to identify and evaluate successful short flower supply chains models in different parts of the world
• Defining principles and metrics of sustainability, provide secondary source analysis on key sustainability issues such as carbon mitigation
• Undertaking market research on current UK flower and sustainable flower growing and market size and structure

Impact statement

This project has the potential to facilitate the expansion of UK small-scale flower production, reducing the environmental impacts of the flower industry and providing employment for people committed to sustainable forms of production.