Help Reduce Carbon with Local Flowers

Visitors to the Farm have likely seen the many beautiful flowers for sale and growing across its fields, but did you know that supporting locally grown flowers does more than just give back to your community?

Often overlooked, the processes used to grow and sell the ‘fast flowers’ available in many retail stores consume significant amounts of energy. The carbon footprint created when controlling artificial climates, transporting flowers by air freight and refrigerated trucks, refrigerated storage, and plastic packaging can be up to dozens of times larger than locally grown flowers.

This huge difference in carbon output quickly adds up by the flowers grown across the world every day, but choosing to support more sustainable businesses is a great way to help reduce these wasteful practices. 

Aside from shopping for cut flowers locally, there are even more ways you can help lower your environmental impact the next time you want to buy flowers. Seasonal varieties are a great way to cut back on the resources needed to create ideal growing conditions, and also look for local florists who avoid plastic or use biodegradable packaging.

Some local organizations also offer great services around the responsible use of cut flowers, such as The Flower Shuttle and their partnership with Raleigh City Farm to bring recycled flowers to people in need. 

We are proud of our community’s love of the environment, and Raleigh City Farm remains committed to its mission of sustainable agriculture. Thank you for digging in and showing your support to both us and the planet we all share.