Over the past three years, the Open Flower Network has been helping women and gender diverse farmers to connect, scale, and succeed in the specialty cut flower sector. As this important work draws to a close, we’ve summarized the project’s highlights, achievements, and challenges in a short and accessible final report. 

Program Background

The Open Flower Network was born from the grassroots momentum of flower farmers and hubs already leveraging our e-commerce tools. Despite the sector’s rapid expansion, there was a significant lack of research and programming dedicated to this niche, particularly regarding the women and gender-diverse farmers leading its growth. Supported by the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, we launched the Open Flower Network to bridge these gaps.

Over this multi-year initiative, the program focused on three strategic pillars:

1. Conducting a comprehensive gap analysis to define the unique characteristics and urgent needs of the sector.
2. Cultivating regional leadership and knowledge-sharing networks to foster long-term community resilience.
3. Equipping farmers with specialized tools, resources, and guidance to strengthen their business and technical skills.

Outcomes and Impacts for Flower Farmers

Open Flower Network was a multifaceted program, designed to benefit both individual small and medium scale farms and the sector as a whole. To measure results, we documented program participation across in-person, and online channels, and analyzed anonymized OFN platform sales and inventory metrics, as well as circulating an online program evaluation survey from December 2025 to January 2026. Together, these sources showed that the program engaged thousands of people, helped farmers and hubs capitalize on a growing sector, and created lasting resources for the future. 

“The diverse resources provided by OFN and the dedicated work Theresa has delivered to our community have been invaluable in supporting and GROWING my business and have also strengthened the local cut flower sector as a whole! Led by Theresa, the sharing of these resources has fostered invaluable relationships with other growers that I am personally very grateful for.“

~ Flower Farmer (2026 program evaluation survey)

Read the Final Report

The Open Flower Network has reached its conclusion, and our final reflections are now available. We encourage anyone in the specialty cut flower space to dive into this report for a detailed look at the strategies and achievements that shaped our project.