Marianne Suggs

Columbian flowers have emerged as a stable and very marketable international crop, earning up to five times per acre what fruit crops yield. To meet high aesthetic standards of the American market (the highest for cut flowers) and to kill insects possibly harbored in the plants, growers use any means at their disposal --- including banned and unregistered pesticides, synthetic growth hormones and fertilizers; and an illiterate, underpaid minority work force (60% women).

Click on a hanging below to see a larger image.