The true cost of Ecuador’s perfect roses: how the global flower trade poisons workers

Many farmers in the Andes rely on growing blooms for export, but high water usage and risky pesticides threaten Indigenous communities The fertile high valley near La Chimba trembles with sounds. The rhythms of brass bands and cumbia music clash like weather fronts, each playing its own beats in the Andean rain. A rainbow spans the slopes and white plastic greenhouses, protecting the region’s treasure: roses bred for beauty, shipped abroad, blooming far from home. Amid the drizzle, Patricia Catucuamba and her husband, Milton Navas, share a jug of chicha, a maize brew vital to their harvest celebrations. Since 2000, they have worked as dairy farmers, but sustaining a milk business requires expanses of land beyond the reach of most smallholders. Continue reading...

By Lise Josefsen Hermann and Jasper Fabian Wenzel in La Chimba, Ecuador