New Ways Over the Horizon to Manage Plant Risks
September 8, 2022 
Consumer demand for plants remains strong. For many growers, it feels like the sky’s the limit. But introduction of state or federally regulated invasive pests into your production system could shut down your market overnight, delivering an untold near and long-term blow to your bottom-line.
The Horticultural Research Institute, in partnership with the National Plant Board and USDA, is pleased to announce the launch of an important new tool for nursery and greenhouse growers seeking to improve plant production processes by identifying hazards (operational areas where plants are at risk of contamination or introduction to plant pests). Understanding your critical control points help you implement measures to reduce or eliminate risks, paving the way for healthier plants and healthier businesses.
Where do you start? A multi-year effort to modernize plant certification has resulted in a new program known as SANC. The Systems Approach to Nursery Certification (SANC) program is a voluntary, grower-driven, officially state-verified plant health certification partnership that applies quality management principles to the entire plant production process. SANC was developed as a holistic approach to growing and certifying plants that satisfies applicable state and federal plant health regulations.
SANC applies best practices at key points in the plant production process to address identified risks. These practices are integrated into a growing operation system, hence the name: systems approach. The place to start with system design is a greenhouse or nursery-specific risk assessment that examines what can go wrong where in the plant production process.
The best part? SANC is easy to navigate and available to growers at no cost. A free, web-based risk assessment tool, available at hriresearch-sanc.org, will walk you through steps toward developing process improvements tailored to your nursery or greenhouse. Whether you pursue full SANC certification or not, the risk assessment tool will provide you a practical guide to mitigate risk and improve plant health.
An exciting new tool for risk management, you can also learn more about SANC and other innovations over the horizon by joining AmericanHort in Denver for the 2022 Plug & Cutting Conference (Sept. 19-21) or attending an upcoming webinar. Among the crowded slate of educational sessions geared toward seeding smarter solutions for better performance, a panel of experts led by AmericanHort’s advocacy team will explore emerging tools and approaches for greenhouse pest and disease risk management. In addition to SANC, panelists will share insight on new tools under development by the USDA to help growers manage financial exposure to pest and diseases risks. We hope to see in the Mile High City later this month!
Subscribe to eNewsletter
