Watsonville flower producers help grow local economy
More than $682 is raked into the local economy from flower growers in the Watsonville area every year. 92 cents of every dollar collected on sales from flowers grown in the city stays in the city. Staying ahead of the changing industry trends hasn’t always been easy said local growers.
“Business savvy our willingness to adjust to the market, the lifestyle of people and also to advance in our technology of what we do,” said general manager of the Pajarosa Floral, Paul Furman.
Inside the Pajarosa, visitors will find thousands of flowers, as workers work fast to arrange, cut and ship them out. Over the years some flower companies on central coast have wilted. According to the California Cut Flower Commission, there’s only 15 flower growers on the central coast.
Furman said his company ships out about 30 to 50 thousand flowers all across the country every day. Growers said it takes a lot of hard work and the process isn’t something that most people usually get to see.
“Normally a cut flower production is closed to the public and so the public doesn’t get to see the inner beauty that we get to enjoy here everyday so we thought lets be good neighbors lets invite our community inside,” said California Cut Flower Commission, Kathleen Williford.
This Saturday growers will open their doors to the public, in hopes of educating the masses on what they do and how the flower industry hopes to continue blossoming, despite dealing with California’s drought.
“We’re on our own wells here and we recycle 100 percent of our water hydroponically,if the drought were to continue for 8 to 10 more years maybe we’d see the tables dry up,” said Furman.
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Watsonville’s flower growers are preparing to host an open house Saturday to demonstrate the important role flower production plays on the Central Coast. According to growers, the local flower industry contributes over $682 million to Monterey and Santa Cruz County economies.
KION’s Brandon Castillo took a look at flower production, and will have more tonight on KION, your Central Coast News Source.
