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UPDATE TNLA Green
Product Rodeo & Education Corral Brought It All to Fort Worth
INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS FROM across the state came together to be part of the action at TNLA’s newest event: Product Rodeo & Education Corral. The Will Rogers Memorial Center Watt Arena in Fort Worth was the site of the inaugural event, which took place Feb. 26–27. Product Rodeo highlighted the industry’s latest innovations with on-site demos of the latest outdoor equipment and machinery. Hundreds of green industry professionals enjoyed live demonstrations and exciting competitions. They also had the opportunity to earn more than 15 hours of CEU offerings.
During the Product Rodeo & Education Corral, participants:
• Tested the power and performance of the industry’s latest gear and cutting-edge technology; • Discovered the industry’s latest innovations during the rodeo’s live demonstrations; • Learned to create a remarkable experience in the workplace with employee engagement specialist and keynote presenter Peter Van Stralen; • Pumped up their teams’ excitement while throwing it all on the line during some fierce cornhole competitions; • Kicked up some dirt during the rodeo’s Wednesday night welcome party; • Powered up their business’ social network by meeting oneon-one with industry professionals; • Helped to raise money for scholarships during Thursday’s TNLA’s Foundation raffle and lunch; • Joined other women professionals in the industry during From High Heels to Work Boots, with industry leader and keynote presenter Veronica Seever of Leaf Landscape Supply;
TNLA Creates New Member Category: Irrigation AS THE GREEN INDUSTRY continues to grow, so does the need to diversify the TNLA membership. Irrigation professionals play an integral role within the green industry, so TNLA members recently conducted a statewide vote passing a bylaw change to include irrigation as a TNLA member category. Irrigation members, by definition, are engaged in irrigation system design, consulting, installation, maintenance, and repairs or services, including the connection of such a system to a private or public, nonpotable or potable water supply, or any water supply.
• Hit the reset button before the busy spring business season arrives while enjoying Fort Worth; and • Maximized their time and gained much-needed CEUs at the Education Corral by attending education sessions focused on retail, landscaping, irrigation, and hardscapes.
TNLA looks forward to seeing this
event grow even more next year. Stay
on the lookout for next year’s Product
Rodeo & Education Corral dates. A
special thanks to TNLA’s Product Rodeo
& Education sponsors for making this
a year a success: Southwest Wholesale
Nursery, Leaf Landscape Supply, The
Nitsche Group, Landscape Art, Ewing
Irrigation & Landscape Supply, Civano
Growers, Just Pots, TreeTown USA,
Gempler’s, Keystone Hardscapes, Texas
Green Industry Safety Group, Hotchkiss
Q A
Practical business advice and ideas you can use now
Finding the Green Industry’s Future Workforce
Finding highly skilled, talented employees takes a lot of time and resources. For the past eight years, Sam Weger, vice president of recruiting and training for Calloway’s Nursery, has honed his recruiting skills to hire qualified interns and staff members. Here he shares his wisdom for finding the right candidates and nurturing them to become the promise of the green industry’s future.
How long have you been director of recruiting at Calloway’s Nursery, and what does your job entail? I have been at Calloway’s Nursery since 1987 and doing the recruiting and training function since 2012. I’ve been visiting college and university campuses as a Calloway’s representative since 2008. I supervise our summer internship program, which usually involves four students for 10 weeks in the summer. I also visit with not only students but prospective and current employees who are looking to advance their careers. I help in preparing the speaker’s notes for our Garden Series educational events every Saturday during the spring and develop customer care and safety topics for Calloway’s/Cornelius employees.
What’s involved in your recruitment plan when you’re searching for interns on college and university campuses? The focus has been to find candidates who have the people skills retail demands: A positive attitude and friendly, helpful personality are the first things I look for. Having a “servant” mentality and the desire to help people be successful in their gardening endeavors is crucial, as well as a strong work and team ethic. Horticulture knowledge and some basic business understanding are also beneficial.
How important are internships to retail garden centers and the future of the green industry? I think internships help expose the retail nursery industry to students who have not thought about that as a career choice. Our internships are designed to expose the students to an overview of the workings of most of the facets of a retail operation. We hope to allow them to find a career that uses their college experience and their desire to help people.
What kind of recruitment work have you done to interest students in retail garden center and green industry careers? I have made presentations to horticulture classes and horticulture clubs at most of the colleges and universities with horticulture programs in Texas, as well as some contacts in other states. I worked with Can Academy High School at both of their
Sam Weger, vice president of recruiting and training for Calloway’s Nursery
facilities in Fort Worth to talk about TNLA certification and career opportunities in our industry.
How has that work paid off for Calloway’s and the green industry as a whole? We have former interns who have moved up to accept store management responsibilities for Calloway’s. They’ve also taken positions in our merchandising department work to procure product for our stores. We have had former interns who have moved on to start their own businesses and be involved in all the different
Q A
categories within the green industry. I also believe, perhaps more importantly, that our existing employee base becomes more involved as they work with our interns. And they move to a higher level of professionalism in their careers.
Why is it important to develop relationships with instructors and career counselors when recruiting students? The frontline instructors and counselors carry a lot of weight with their students. Developing a positive relationship with them will help identify students who might be a good fit with your organization. Instructors and counselors have a stake in promoting the industry in which they teach, and most want more students to be involved in their classes.
Why are you passionate about green industry workforce issues? For several years the green industry has been viewed as a low-tech industry that did not offer a meaningful career. I think that might be reversing. I believe green industry careers benefit society and the people working in them.
How can recruiters go about promoting the benefits of working for their company when recruiting on college campuses? I still believe in up-front honesty as the best long-term approach. I think recruiters must convey the things that keep them in the industry and what is important to them. Not everyone is going to relate to things that are important to you, but some will, and I think it will strike a chord with your candidate.
What advice do you have for effectively training new hires? Don’t assume they know what you are talking about, and don’t be afraid to encourage questions. It’s also a good idea to ask questions to see if they comprehend what you’ve taught them.
Once you’ve found talented employees, what tips do you have for retaining them? Immediately start looking for ways to move them forward in their careers by pre
senting them with specific job-related challenges. Most people want to contribute
to the success of the team. If they don’t, why are they still there? Recognize their
contributions and the successes and look for the next challenge. TNLA Green
by CRYSTAL ZUZEK
STRENGTHENING YOUR COMPANY’S TALENT PIPELINE: Sam Weger has 14 time-tested tips for recruiting talented, motivated students and retaining them as valuable, hard-working employees.
1. Develop an internship program to help cultivate future talent to fill full-time positions in the future. 2. Review resumes and applications on a regular basis. 3. Research dates and sign up to participate in as many relevant career events as you can. 4. Take advantage of horticulture club events and classroom visits. 5. Before heading to a career fair, be prepared to discuss job opportunities offered by your company. 6. Search for students who are engaged and excited about their career goals. 7. First impressions are everything. Sell the benefits of working for your company. 8. Provide printed information about your company to send home with students. 9. Get to know students in an informal setting to help evoke open conversation. This gives them the chance to learn more about your company. 10. Develop relationships with not only the students but also with the instructors and career counselors. 11. Interview prospective interns and new hires with professionalism to find the best candidates for your company. 12. Use your best mentor to train new hires and interns. 13. Put interns on the front line of your business to allow them to experience the job. Assign them meaningful projects to begin an active skillset to learn from. 14. Allow interns the opportunity to work with your customers.
Crossing State Lines
Whether importing or exporting, become familiar with unwanted pests and diseases to avoid serious damage
by SARAH THURMOND
SPRING HAS OFFICIALLY ARRIVED, along with more customers looking for new plants to spruce up their yards and gardens. To keep up with the demand, nurseries and growers are shipping stock all over the country. But with that comes potential dangers, warns Dale Scott, director of the Environmental and Biosecurity Program at the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA).
“We’re coming upon the really busy season,” he says. “Of course, when you have a busy season for imports and exports, you’re going to be transporting pests and disease.”
That’s right, pests and diseases are lurking in budding flowers and lush greenery, and while some present no harm, others could cause serious damage. Nurseries and growers need to have the proper protocols and paperwork in place before shipping to another state, or they could find themselves in a real bind. A failed road station inspection could lead to a quarantine on materials or stock being sent back to the place of origin. Or it could be destroyed entirely, resulting in a potential loss of thousands of dollars. Even worse, from a regulatory standpoint, an unwanted pest could find its way into a vulnerable area of the country, causing an infestation to break out.
Crossing State Lines
Of course, these situations are avoidable by being extra vigilant and following the right steps and procedures to ensure plants are safe for transport across state lines. Through some research and advance planning, and with the guidance of regional, state, and federal agents and organizations, interstate exporting and importing can help grow a green business by expanding its operation into new markets or by diversifying its stock to attract more customers. Importing and Exporting 101 Before getting started, make sure your Nursery Floral License is up to date. This annual license issued by TDA is required for any individual or business wanting to grow or distribute plants. Whether importing or exporting, it’s important to become familiar with the pests and diseases that are unwanted around the country. The National Plant Board’s website, nationalplantboard. org, is the best source for this information. The site’s Laws and Regulations section offers up-todate summaries for every state, as overseen by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ), and the agriculture departments of each state. These summaries contain the quarantines that are in place in a state, the specific rules and regulations required by a state’s department of agriculture, and the certificates of compliance that are necessary for entry into a state, among other information.
Because every state is different and has its own unique concerns, rules and regulations vary widely, making entry compliance one of the biggest challenges for a nursery or grower, says Mathias Marcos, a TDA plant quality program specialist. “There’s pest and disease that we might have to a limited extent in Texas, but other states believe that it’s widespread, so they’ll have certain requirements that our nurseries must meet in order to be able to ship into their state,” he says.
These requirements could include a phytosanitary certificate (PSC), a special permit, or a compliance agreement. The type of pest, pathogen, or insect and the type of plant determine which one is necessary. For instance, one of the most destructive pests is the Japanese beetle. California rejects plants from Texas and other states because the Japanese beetle has been found in these states, and it’s under quarantine alert. To gain entry into California, nursery plants have to be treated with a pesticide that has been approved for Japanese beetle treatment. Treatment confirmation is a must. Surviving Inspections While they’re not mandatory for every state, PSCs show that products within a shipment have passed inspection by a TDA agent, who checks everything about the plants, including the soil. Depending on the size of a shipment, an inspection takes about one or two hours. The inspector observes the health of the plant stock and looks for any pests or diseases and anything else that’s on the checklist. Once approved, the certificate lists, among other things, the customer’s name, the facility address, the quantity of the shipment, and the variety of plants. A PSC needs to be obtained before goods are loaded for transport.
Fortunately, a $30 fee covers an inspection, whether it’s one plant or thousands of plants. If shipping to a western state, keep in mind that most require a PSC for anything from Texas. For more information about PSCs, go to the Plant Quality page at texasagriculture.gov or the Frequently Asked Questions page found under Plant Health/ Export at aphis.usda.gov.
Some states have compliance agreements or special permits between states, if certain measures have been met. For example, Greenleaf Nursery in El Campo can skip the PSC process for shipments to New Mexico because it has a compliance agreement in place that requires a list of procedures to take place at the nursery. For example, these include a process that monitors whether Japanese beetles are found on the nursery’s property. A TDA agent sets out traps during the summer months, the MOST CHALLENGING STATES FOR EXPORTING HORTICULTURE PRODUCTS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER the top states that are most challenging for exporting horticulture products are: Arizona, California, Florida, Tennessee, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, and Washington. In addition, the most popular exported plants and plant products from Texas are: palms, roses, pecan nursery plants, trees, and turf.
Aniwash Bhatkar, Ph.D., the TDA’s coordinator for biosecurity and agriculture resource management writes via email, “Arizona wants all the nursery stock to be held at specified holding areas on arrival for inspection of pests for five days. These plants may not get required attention during this time. California does not accept compliance agreements for nursery stock and does not agree with all the requirements of the National Plant Board’s Domestic Japanese Beetle Harmonization Plan (JBHP). Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington also do not agree with all the requirements of JBHP and need notification prior to plant shipments.”
peak season for the insect, and then checks the traps, records whether beetles are found, and then supplies the information to the agriculture department of New Mexico.
Before any inspection, it’s a good rule of thumb to do self-inspections, says Aniwash Bhatkar, Ph.D., the TDA’s coordinator for biosecurity and agriculture resource management. “There are some pests that we must observe ourselves” he says, such as Asian gypsy moth and emerald ash borer. TDA and Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service provide helpful information about pests and diseases to watch out for and how to spot them. And, of course, always be on the lookout for imported red fire ants. “Fire ants are always going to be our No. 1 as far as exporting, especially if you’re going out to California and Arizona,” Scott says.
If a nursery or grower is interested in exporting but concerned about the number of TDA inspections, the Systems Approach to Nursery Certification (SANC) program might be the way to go. Sponsored by the National Plant Board, this is a selfaudit certification program, with a nursery addressing every risk it has for pests, pathogens, and diseases and putting in place SANC-approved procedures that mitigate any problems. These best management practices are formalized to maintain the health and quality of the nursery’s operations.
“If a nursery operation puts in the investment and goes through the process, and then maintains the cleanliness and protocols within their operations, they’re actually certifying that they are managing and reducing risk for certain types of pathogens,” says Kevin Ong, Ph.D., director of the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Texas A&M. (See Greenleaf Nursery Kicks Off SANC Certification Process, page 12.)
Crossing State Lines
Smarter Shipping When it comes to importing plants and plant products, again, research and proper paperwork are key to smooth, hassle-free shipping. Know where the material is coming from and what sort of pests originate in that state and the quarantines that are in place in Texas, Scott says.
“For instance, if you’re going to ship from Tennessee, know that they have Japanese beetle problems, and so there could be issues with that,” he says. To stay up to date on quarantines,
Crossing State Lines
IN LATE 2017, the El Campo location of Greenleaf Nursery began the process for a Systems Approach to Nursery Certification (SANC), becoming the first and so far only nursery in Texas to pursue approval. Technical Services Manager Robert Fernandez has been overseeing the process, which kicked off with a SANC consultant guiding him through what is called a “risk assessment.” (See Risk Assessments for Insect and Disease Management, page 20.)
Fernandez has gone step-by-step in identifying areas at risk for pests and diseases at the nursery — examining everything from places water could spread disease to the facility’s disposal of plants to its handling of equipment. He then formalized the plans to control the risks, including listing the personnel in charge of preventing hazards from occurring, the training that would be required, the treatment protocols, and proper equipment care. All the information is documented in a manual for the staff.
Fernandez says many of the best management practices approved by SANC were in place at the nursery, such as how the nursery handled water, plant containers, and the control of weeds. But they were never formally written down, which he sees as a benefit. “When we are officially a SANC nursery, there will be no haphazard way of doing any one of these things, which can be very important in mitigating an issue,” he says.
Throughout the process, Fernandez has leaned on his counterparts at Greenleaf’s North Carolina and Oklahoma locations, both of which have received SANC approval. And although he says the risk assessment was “tedious and timeconsuming” at times, particularly because of the facility’s size (more than 50 personnel will be involved in SANC practices), he believes it will all be worth it.
“It definitely has forced me to look at things a little bit more critically,” he says.
check nationalplantboard.org and texasagriculture.gov for pest and disease alerts. In Texas, the list includes Asian citrus psyllid, emerald ash borer, red imported fire ants, and, of course, Japanese beetle.
It’s critical that a shipment has accompanying paperwork, including any PSCs, with it before it leaves its place of origin. Texas has road station inspections coming into the major interstates. At the stations, agents check for documentation and make sure products are free of pests and disease. “We also do quarantine inspections at stores and nurseries, any place we can inspect the material that comes in from out of state that would be a high risk,” Marcos says.
He advises using reliable sources for stock, those that will not “run the risk of sending shipment into the state without a phytosanitary certificate.” Check with trusted retailers or larger nurseries, especially if they’ve been able to go to the grower or nursery and have seen its best management practices in action. Like any industry, word of mouth is often the best way to find a good source.
What happens if a shipment arrives at a road station for inspection and it has a pest or disease? “It depends on the situation and what the pest is,” Scott says.
A risk analysis can determine what kind of pest or disease is present. If unwanted, it would mean the shipment would likely be
Crossing State Lines
destroyed. If it does have pests but is not of quarantine concern, treatment such as an approved pesticide or insecticide is an option. Another scenario could be if the shipment arrives and doesn’t have proper paperwork, but it doesn’t have any pests. In that case, TDA can seize the stock and issue a citation and administrative penalty.
“In those cases, we won’t necessarily
destroy the plant,” Marcos says. “It
could still be infected but we don’t see
symptoms, so it depends on what the
pest is, what the hosts is. There’s many
considerations.”
TNLA Green
