AmericanHort signs industry letter to protect domestic horticulture

AmericanHort announced a letter sent to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to ensure nursery and floriculture crop farmers ravaged by the fallout of the COVID-19 economic shutdown are not left out of USDA support.

“Nurseries and greenhouse growers have been hit hard by this pandemic,” said Craig Regelbrugge, AmericanHort senior vice president for advocacy and research. “As much as 80% of our industry’s sales occur between mid-March and Memorial Day. The public health precautions our nation has been forced to take have had a substantial effect on our industry’s family farms and small businesses. Some may not survive, as a direct consequence of the restricted or suspended operations that have crippled the industry supply chain and demand for their products.

“104 organizations from across the agricultural community joined AmericanHort to urge the Secretary of Agriculture to remember the full range of agricultural producers, including nurseries and greenhouses, affected by the COVID-19 crisis when offering assistance under USDA’s emergency programs.”

The letter, sent on April 10, contains 105 signatories, including industry trade associations, state farm bureaus, specialty crop organizations and farm lenders. The final letter is available here.