Insights From Lawmaker’s Visit to a Top 100 Greenhouse Grower
May 21, 2018 
Events like the Society of American Florists’ (SAF) Congressional Action Days are a great way for growers to meet face to face with lawmakers and highlight the issues and concerns that have the greatest effect on their business. In some cases, those conversations can lead to something even bigger.
Such is the case with Rep. Julia Brownley (D-CA 26th District), whose key staff members met with Rodi Groot, Product Manager for Sun Valley Group (#11 on Greenhouse Grower’s 2018 Top 100 Growers list with 4 million square feet of environmentally controlled production) during SAF’s most recent Congressional Action Days event in March. A few weeks later, Brownley’s office contacted Groot and asked about coordinating a visit to Sun Valley.
During the May 7 visit, Groot and other members of the Sun Valley team led Brownley and her staff around the company’s greenhouses, bouquet department, and warehouse. They also talked candidly about some of their key challenges as growers — including the need for increased industry research funding and solutions for the country’s broken immigration system.
Learn more about the visit, how it benefited both Sun Valley and Brownley, and how you can take the same approach to getting more involved with your lawmakers, by reading the original SAF article on their Floral Industry News website.
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