The Netherlands is an important actor in the floriculture sector worldwide. Many Dutch flower companies have in recent years established businesses in the Global South as a result of favourable climatic conditions, available land and water resources, and the presence of cheap labour. With the aim to stimulate investments in developing countries (e.g., in the context of the Private Sector Investment programme) some companies were further incentivized by the Dutch government to start up their business through development-related subsidies or favourable loans. Justified by the perceived availability of underused tracts of arable land and the need to bolster global food security, the government views private sector investments as levers for poverty alleviation and inclusive growth. In the policy note on the ‘new direction’ for Dutch development cooperation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, ‘It is our task to encourage investment and trade that benefit people and planet, create jobs and, preferably, are accompanied by the transfer of knowledge and skills’ (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, 2013: 10). In this context, flower companies have the potential to contribute to development – and indirectly to food security – through: the transfer of agricultural knowledge; increased income generation through employment opportunities and by linking smallholder producers to export markets, and increased export earnings. At the same time, this floriculture industry is increasingly scrutinized as it produces inedible luxury goods through the use of scarce land and water resources in areas faced with widespread food insecurity. Moreover, the investments are often located in regions characterized by weak land governance; in these areas local smallholders do not have formal rights to land and so are relocated in the process of floriculture development without sufficient compensation, consultation, or real participation. This constitutes an extra challenge for responsible foreign investments in floriculture that ...