Photos by Eric Parsons / Star staff Sunshine Floral employee Benito Alarcon harvests red Gerber daisies in one of the Oxnard grower's massive greenhouses along Rice Avenue. The flowers will be used to make bouquets, which are sold locally.

Sunshine Floral in Oxnard produces an average of 6,000 floral bouquets per day for distribution to local retailers.

After more than 16 years of Latin American countries enjoying a leg up on them, California's cut flower growers say they have had enough.

While sitting quietly on the sidelines, they have seen their market share plummet as foreign growers flourished through duty-free access to the United States.

Motivated by concerns that a temporary trade pact could become permanent, growers have decided to speak up.

Investors have been wary about tying up their money in overseas agricultural businesses that could be hurt if the trade agreement expires. If that potential problem is alleviated, more investors might be attracted to foreign operations — boosting competition for domestic growers.

"What's fair and what's right is a big question mark," said Michael A. Mellano of the Los Angeles-based grower Mellano & Co. "Should these producers be given preferential treatment? If so, for those of us who are fighting to remain in business, how do we remain whole?"

"We're at a crossroads," said Kasey Cronquist, executive director and ambassador for the California Cut Flower Commission.

It's time, he said, to look back at the last 16 years, see who is still left in the industry and how to help them remain.

In Ventura County, cut flowers were the eighth leading crop with annual revenue of $52.5 million in 2006, according to the latest available report from the Agricultural Commissioner's office.

But according to the California Cut Flower Commission, foreign nations — primarily Colombia — now supply 75 to 80 percent of cut flowers sold in the United States. They have replaced what California growers were providing more than a decade ago.

In December 1991, President George H.W. Bush's administration made a deal with the Andean nations of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, offering them duty-free access to the U.S. market in exchange for assistance combating drug trafficking. It was meant to be an incentive for Andean farmers to pursue alternatives to the drug trade.

For the most part, domestic cut flower growers remained out of the discussion, believing there were larger geopolitical interests at stake.

"The industry didn't come out angrily opposed because we were fighting a war on drugs," Cronquist said. "That was the greater issue."

Once Colombia had its access to the U.S., domestic cut flower growers were at a disadvantage — saddled with higher costs for land, labor and complying with stringent regulations.

"But we are survivors," said Anthony Vollering, part-owner of Sunshine Floral, which has operations in Carpinteria and Oxnard. "You need to adjust, be efficient, more productive, change your crops."

To get by, Sunshine Floral started growing Gerber daisies, the genus of which is Gerbera, a flower that's more difficult for the Colombians to pack and transport.

Other growers followed suit.

Since the trade arrangement went into effect, Cronquist said, the California cut-flower industry has transformed itself, producing "a boutiquey-type product, moving to things that are a little more expensive."

They pulled out their roses, carnations and chrysanthemums, replacing them with flowers like anthirriums and Gerberas.

"You find your niches where you can do better with other flowers and that's how you survive," Vollering said.

U.S. growers seemed to have weathered the storm, according to congressional research released a decade after the Andean accord.

The research concluded that domestic growers diversified their products and were handling the trade preferences well.

"That's the government's take on things," Mellano said. "Finding profitable crops to grow these days is not as easy as pulling a rabbit out of a hat."

Mellano admitted, however, that the industry has not stood up for itself.

"Our voice is somewhat absent in the congressional record on the topic," he said.

While some growers successfully adjusted, Cronquist said something new is happening.

"The Colombians are getting a lot more sophisticated with everything they grow," he said. "They're getting better at growing the ones we are growing today, so at some point we may run out of things to grow."

The Gerbera daisy that saved Sunshine Floral, for example, is one flower he said they're learning to deliver.

"You can diversify an industry to death but there are only so many varieties our growers can move on to," Cronquist said.

The original trade deal with the Andean nations was supposed to last for just 10 years. But it was renewed in 2002, as well as several times since then, most recently in February. It's set to expire at the end of this year.

President George W. Bush, following up on what his father implemented, has proposed a new law that would make the trade deal permanent — the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

The proposed legislation would affect more than just the cut flower industry. Bush briefed the press April 7, saying the agreement is an important support measure for Colombia, which "faces a hostile and anti-American regime in Venezuela."

"Colombia is one of our strongest allies in the Western Hemisphere," Bush said.

He added that the agreement would eliminate tariffs on certain American exports of industrial and consumer goods, leveling that playing field.

That doesn't soothe concerns of American cut flower growers, who are worried a permanent pact would increase competition.

California growers are especially interested because they account for 80 percent of domestic cut flower production for the limited market share retained by American companies.

The California Cut Flower Commission is speaking out against the new law, partly by directing its executive director, Cronquist, to go to Washington, D.C., and lobby Congress.

Cronquist said he hopes lawmakers will "look back at what's happened and determine for themselves whether these growers warrant some adjustments for the losses they've endured for the last 16 years."

Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, was among the House members Cronquist spoke with in Washington, D.C.

Capps released a statement stating that there "is no question that our trade policies with Colombia have seriously hurt flower growers in California and a permanent agreement would exacerbate this problem."

The House this month tabled the permanent free-trade deal with Colombia, delaying the vote until after the November election.