Decarbonizing the Cut flower Post-harvest Chain

With the sustainability question taking center stage in all flower discussions, it is important that we as post-harvest experts & team scrutinize our contribution towards achieving the prestigious Gold standard certification.

Carbon in the post-harvest chain mainly come from fuel operated machinery; on-farm transportation trucks, generators for the cold rooms and logistics companies who deliver these flowers to the final consumer. The longer the distances to be covered both on and off farm, the more the fuel consumed and the bigger the carbon foot print.

Given that all these are critical ancillary steps in the postharvest chain, what then can we do about all this?

• For large acreage farms or farms with production sites on different geographical locations, set up mini-grading sites complete with cold rooms. This cuts down on on-farm trips and also reduces transportation of waste; stems that will be rejected anyway - this ensures that only the exportable stems are carried out of a station.
• More and more farms are embracing solar energy as an alternative source of power which is a fantastic carbon reduction program. Post harvest operations success rely heavily on power to run the cooling systems and having a huge chunk of it come from solar is a big plus for us.
• The initiative by the Kenya Airport Authority to activate cargo handling capacity to the satellite airports will reduce greatly the unnecessary transportation of flower to JKIA in Nairobi. Cutting down the fuel consumed will bring down the footprint significantly.
• Sea freight as a technology will revolutionize Flower logistics redirecting it from airfreight which is carbon heavy.
• Regional consolidation zones for sea freight flowers is also ingenious because growers will no longer take 2/3 boxes all the way to Nairobi and alternatively, a single truck will get all these boxes to the prefered shipping company.
• Cargo handlers are also consciously moving to electric cargo lifters. This is not only good for the flowers as diesel fumes produce ethylene but also good for the environment.
• Lastly, let's be on the forefront on reforestation to create a carbon sink.

As environmental registration and certification goes digital, the post harvest chain can now easily get audited and recommendations given on how to lower it's carbon foot print. Simply identify a provider of an environmental label like GLOBALG.A.P, MPS or FSI and begin the journey towards a sustainable post-harvest chain.