Legislative Update

From AmericanHort: How Politics Are Affecting Your Business Right Now

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Please Act Now on H-2B!

By Craig Regelbrugge

Unless Congress and the Administration take positive steps, it’s going to be an especially grim spring labor market for seasonal employers. In just the first three days of the new year, employers started the application process to fill 136,555 positions with start dates April 1 or after, but only 33,000 H-2B visas are available. Because seasonal worker shortages in the landscape sector hurt the whole green industry supply chain, we are urging everyone – regardless of where you are, regardless of what your business does – to take a few moments to act now to urge your elected leaders to address this looming problem.

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AmericanHort Meets with New USDA-APHIS Leadership Team

By Laurie Flanagan & Craig Regelbrugge

USDA’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine (APHIS-PPQ) has an outsize role in our industry. The agency makes and enforces the rules for all types of plant imports, conducts inspections at the ports, maintains domestic interstate quarantines for several high-consequence plant pests, and facilitates export opportunities for U.S. growers. For these reasons, productive relationships with key APHIS officials are exceptionally important for AmericanHort and our members.

With notable staff changes at the end of 2021, the AmericanHort advocacy team staff recently met virtually with Mark Davidson, APHIS- PPQ acting deputy administrator, and Ibrahim Shaqir, the new associate deputy administrator, to familiarize them with AmericanHort and the industry, discuss emerging issues, and brief them on ongoing certification initiatives and other collaborative efforts with the Agency.

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Committee Advances Key USDA Nomination

By Evan Lee

The Senate Agriculture Committee on January 12 voted to advance President Biden’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) research agencies (Agricultural Research Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Economic Research Service, and National Agricultural Statistics Service). Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young received her presidential nomination in July and testified at her confirmation hearing in late November. AmericanHort is among the agriculture organizations publicly supporting her confirmation.

The committee’s approval is the final step before consideration by the full Senate, which has set a relatively slow pace of confirmations for the term amid the President’s competing legislative priorities. Among the 644 individuals nominated as of December 31, 2021, the Senate has successfully confirmed 355 of President Biden’s nominees. Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow remarked after the hearing, “I am pleased we are making process on getting Secretary Vilsack’s team in place.”

Dr. Jacobs-Young has provided scientific leadership to USDA for years as a career civil servant. If confirmed, she will become the first woman and person of color to lead the Research, Education, and Economics mission area at USDA and serve as Chief Scientist, roles which involve research prioritization and coordination across the Department.

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Watch for Floriculture Survey!

By Evan Lee

AmericanHort encourages floriculture crop growers in all 50 states to please watch the incoming mail for USDA’s Floriculture Crop survey and complete the survey before things get too busy with the Spring season. We use information from this survey in our ongoing advocacy efforts, and information provided by the survey can positively influence everything from university horticulture department and high school vocational horticulture program funding to our industry’s share of Specialty Crop Block Grants.

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Bringing Advocacy Home!

By Craig Regelbrugge

When it comes to effective advocacy, relationships are the coin of the realm. Building effective relationships doesn’t have to be difficult, it just takes some thought, preparation, and persistence. In our experience, one of the most effective ways for a horticulture business to build useful relationships is by hosting members of Congress and staff for a facility visit. After all, what better way could there be to convey the impact your business has at the community level – the jobs you create, taxes you pay, investments in people and infrastructure, and more.

Mike and Rachel Gooder and team at Plantpeddler in Cresco, IA, just hosted Rep. Ashley Hinson for another visit. Hinson (R-IA-01) serves on the powerful Appropriations Committee. A few snippets of this latest visit were captured a local media company collaborator, and the brief video makes the case just how effective these facility visits can be at raising the profile of our industry and our policy priorities.

Take a moment to view the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qugV3iP1swQ

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EPA Announces Endangered Species Act Protection Policy for New Pesticides

By Laurie Flanagan & Tal Coley

On January 11, 2022, the U.S. EPA reversed decades of practice by announcing their new policy in compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA). From this point on, before EPA registers any new conventional AI, the Agency will assess the potential effects of the AI on federally listed threatened or endangered species, and their designated critical habitats, and initiate ESA consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Services where appropriate. This policy change comes with the goal of advancing the protection of federally threatened or endangered species. Before this announcement, EPA did not consistently assess the potential effects of conventional pesticides on listed species when registering new AIs. This old policy often resulted in a lot of litigation for the Agency.

The new policy should reduce these types of cases against the Agency and improve the legal defensibility of new AIs. Within the consultation of the new policy, if EPA determines that jeopardy or adverse modifications are likely, the Agency will only make a registration decision until adequate mitigation measures are in place. EPA is also continuing to explore applying these new ESA approaches to new biopesticide AIs and new antimicrobial AIs. Additionally, the Agency is currently developing a detailed work plan to outline additional improvements to further the Agency’s compliance with the ESA, including more stakeholder engagement opportunities. •