Globalization Wilts Flowering Industry

Companies such as Dole Fresh Flowers downsize in Latin America to confront increasing competition coming from Asia and Africa. Some Dole workers suspect that the company imposed lay-offs because strong unions opposed long hours and exposure to pesticides. Increasing cost of fuel and a decline in the dollar also cut profits for the Colombian flower industry. China is steadily increasing its flower production, and could supplant Colombia as the second largest flower producer in the world, after the Netherlands, by 2010. The struggle to sell legal crops like flowers in the global market could prompt some Colombia farmers to grow alternative crops, including the native coca for cocaine production. – YaleGlobal