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Overtime Rule Sent to Office of Management and Budget

The Department of Labor (DOL) sent a new proposed rule to address overtime pay to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.  This review is a required step in the rulemaking process before the proposed rule can be formally released for public comment.  While we are not sure how long the rule will […]

H-2B Letters to Leadership Push for Cap Relief

A bipartisan group of over 30 Senators and over 90 House Members led by Reps. Pingree (D-ME) and Harris (R-MD) and Senators Tillis (R-NC) and King (I-ME) planned to send a letter to Congressional leaders on January 22 urging them to include meaningful and permanent cap relief in any agreement to end the partial government […]

AmericanHort Releases 2019 Legislative & Policy Agenda

AmericanHort’s advocacy team released our 2019 Legislative & Policy agenda during an advocacy town hall at the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) in Baltimore. Legislative and regulatory priorities center around workforce and transportation issues, research funding and implementation, environmental regulation, and horticultural trade and marketplace issues. The advocacy team plans to focus on these issues […]

House Democrats Look to Block Move of USDA Agencies

A contingent of House Democrats is strategizing to block the move of two USDA agencies. The Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) are both slated to be relocated outside of the Washington area to a yet-to-be-determined site, by the end of 2019. Citing cost-cutting measures and the desire to […]

New Career Resource from Seed Your Future

Seed Your Future has just launched its new career exploration resource. The new website is not simply a list of the more than 90 careers in horticulture, it asks visitors to consider their interests and then lists careers in horticulture to match them. Each career page includes information on the education requirements, links to where to study, […]

Legal Challenge Tops H-2A News

With growers in many states facing mandated H-2A wage increases of up to nearly 23 percent, a legal challenge was expected to be filed on January 8.  The National Council of Agricultural Employers, in which AmericanHort is an active leader, has been preparing to file suit in U.S. Federal District Court against the U.S. Department of Labor […]

Congress Approves New Plant Intellectual Property Protection Option

One thing the last Congress did manage to finish in December was a new farm bill.  And among the beneficial provisions of the new farm bill is a new plant breeders’ rights protection option. AmericanHort successfully supported the provision, which expands the USDA-administered Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) to enable protection of asexually-reproduced plants.  (The PVPA, first […]

EU to Ban Import of High-Risk Plants

Effective December 2019, the European Union has announced a ban on the importation of certain plants deemed as high-risk ornamentals in relation to risk of pest introduction. So far, banned plants include the following genera:  Acacia, Acer, Albizia, Alnus, Annona, Bauhinia, Berberis, Betula, Caesalpina, Cassia, Castanea, Cornus, Corylus, Crataegus, Diospyros, Fagus, Fraxinus, Hamamelis, Jasminum, Juglans, […]

Boxwood Blight Confirmed in Michigan

In December, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development confirmed that boxwood blight was positively identified for the first time in Michigan. The disease was found in three separate locations in Oakland County, at a landscape firm, a homeowner’s yard, and on holiday wreaths sold in a retail garden center. Oakland County is just […]