State Ag Department Hosts Canadian Plant Buyers; Project aims to develop export market

ANNAPOLIS, MD – On Sept. 22-24, Maryland Department of Agriculture

Steve Hershfeld, Hillcrest Nursery in Balt. Co., with Canadian buyers.  (top) Plant propagator Dominique Bayne with Canadian buyers at Emory Knoll Farm (Harford Co.), which specializes in green roof plants (bottom).

(MDA) hosted buyers from four Canadian firms specializing in providing plants to garden centers in their country. MDA introduced the buyers to nurseries in Frederick, Baltimore and Harford counties.

“We hope that Canada’s upcoming change in phytosanitary requirements will support increased sales of Maryland nursery products to Canada,” said Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. “We look forward to developing relationships for Maryland nurseries with Canadian operations.”

MDA will also be hosting Canadian buyers at the Baltimore-based Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS), January 8-10, 2013. MANTS draws nearly 11,000 associated with the nursery and greenhouse industry throughout the United States to the Baltimore Convention Center.

The buyers were recruited by the Southern U.S. Trade Association, made up of state departments of agriculture from throughout the South, including Maryland. MDA partnered with Florida Department of Agriculture and Tennessee Department of Agriculture in this project to improve exports from nurseries.

The ornamental nursery industry in Canada has sales of about $2.3 billion annually. In Maryland, nurseries had wholesale sales of $422 million in its latest survey, 2007. The industry’s retail sales topped $1.9 billion in Maryland.

Shipments of some plants from the United States to Canada have faced phytosanitary restrictions due to past concerns with the soybean cyst nematode (SCN). SCN occurs in Maryland so proper steps have been taken to allow shipments of nursery crops to Canada. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is lifting restrictions on Nov. 25, 2013, as SCN is considered being managed effectively in the United States.

MDA certifies plant material that meets the phytosanitary standards set for clean nursery stock as defined by the receiving country. In 2012, MDA issued 80 phytosanitary certificates for Maryland nursery stock exported to Canada. Most of the shipments were rooted plant cuttings, plug plants or seeds of a wide variety of plants. The certificates for export to Canada represent 13.9 percent of the 574 total international phytosanitary certificates written in 2012.

Nursery producers interested in meeting with the SUSTA-recruited Canadian buyers at the MANTS show in January should contact Mark Powell in the Marketing and Agribusiness Development Section at MDA before Dec. 16, (410) 841-5775, [email protected]. Producers interested in phytosanitary requirements for Canada should call the Plant Protection Section at MDA, (410) 841-5920.

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