The Ecuador Trade Office in Chicago launched a campaign May 15 to extend trade agreements between Ecuador and the United States that expire July 31. Unless either the Andean Trade Promotion & Drug Eradication Act or the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences program are renewed by an act of the U.S. Congress, tariffs on imported products from Ecuador will be imposed and their prices will likely increase. Borys Mejia, trade commissioner for Ecuador in Chicago,... Read more

The Alaskan peony industry is enjoying a growth spurt, according to a new report by two university researchers, Patricia S. Holloway and Kathleen Buchholz of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. They stated that commercial peony growing began there in 2004, with small test plots of 20 plants. By 2012, that number had grown to 120,000. With an average yield of 10 stems per plant, the harvest is projected to be 1.2 million fresh-cut peony stems by 2015. By surveying... Read more

A giant globe made of succulent plants will be on display at one of the six growers on the Monterey Bay Greenhouse Growers fourth annual open house tours on June 15. The floral masterpiece of living plants that accurately represents the world was two years in the making. It is the brainchild of Succulent Gardens owner Robin Stockwell. And, he said in an interview, “It spins.” Succulent Gardens grows about 600 varieties of succulent plants and will have them on... Read more

On May 25, the U.S. Department of Agriculture expanded its import inspections on a non-overtime basis at Miami International Airport for the first time in 66 years. Christine Boldt, executive vice president of the Association of Floral Importers of Florida, said the agency added an entomologist at its Miami Inspection Station on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Previously, the station had done inspections on Saturdays only when importers paid for overtime “Having... Read more

If you are confused by the array of certification labels for cut flowers and foliage, stand back: here comes another one. The California Cut Flower Commission has decided it will develop a new sustainability certification exclusively for California flowers, according to Kasey Cronquist, its chief executive officer and ambassador. In an interview in mid-May, Cronquist said the commission had committed $250,000 of its dues funding toward development of the new standard... Read more

Exhibit space for the OFA Short Course in Columbus, OH, July 13-16, is sold out and a waiting list has been established. The association said in a May 10 news release that the seven-acre trade show will have about 585 companies occupying more than 1,500 exhibit spaces. “Even though we expanded the trade show floor this year, more companies want to exhibit,” Michael V. Geary, chief executive officer of OFA, formerly the Ohio Florists Association, said in the release.... Read more

In March, the U.S. Congress implemented the sequester. mandatory across-the-board budget cuts upon most federal agencies, including the Customs & Border Protection Agency, because Congress was not able to get a budget passed. The Association of Floral Importers of Florida began to worry about Mother’s Day (May 12), the biggest floral sales holiday of the year. The sequester imposed cutbacks to all CBP locations and, since Miami has such a large staff because... Read more

Irv Betrock of Betrock Information Systems in Hollywood, FL, will be inducted into the Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement in the nursery and landscape industry at the association’s annual meeting June 15 in Weston, FL. Awardees were announced in an April 17 FNGLA news release. The Hall of Fame award is one of the highest awards the association can bestow. Also honored at the meeting will be Nancy G. McDonald... Read more

“Lights, camera, action!” the Mark Viettes Daylily is ready for her close-up. The director watches from the back of the studio as the cameras roll. Joep Paternostre, sans beret, hears the cameras click as they take photos of Madame Daylily, who is not a Hollywood star, but a gorgeous yellow lily. We are in Waynesboro, VA, in the state-of-the-art photography studio at Bloomaker, the bulb grower that has invented a new floral category with its flowering bulbs grown... Read more

“We are thrilled with the turnout for the show thus far,” said Bob Callahan, show manager for the International Floriculture Expo, on May 20. “With four weeks to go before show time, the number of exhibits has already surpassed last year’s level,” he added, noting more than 200 exhibitors have signed up already and attendance is expected to reach 1,750. “On the buyer side, we are well ahead of last year’s pace, with the top retailers representing every region in... Read more

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized.” That credo is attributed to Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, who transformed a desolate area on the city’s South Side into the White City for the 1893 Columbian Exposition, then made the nation’s first citywide plan for growth for Chicago in 1909. The team establishing the new perishables center at Chicago’s O’Hare airport has made no little plans. Theirs... Read more

Frank Sinatra sang about Chicago, claiming he saw a stereotype-shattering scene: “a man who danced with his wife.” In a recent trip to the City of Big Shoulders, I saw two related but groundbreaking quests. One, by Ecuador’s Chicago trade office, sought to inspire action by the U.S. Congress, that remote source of inspiration and action, to extend U.S.-Ecuador trade agreements. By July 31, no less. Otherwise, flowers from Ecuador will have a 6.8 percent tariff... Read more

Expanded grower tours and education sessions, a golf tournament on a championship course, distinguished service awards, a floral fashion show and the world’s largest display of California flowers and greenery under one roof are highlights of the biennial Fun ‘N Sun Weekend sponsored by NORCAL, the California association of flower growers and shippers. This year’s show runs July 17-20 at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort only 30 steps from the beach in Santa Barbara,... Read more

More than 200 veterans or national cemeteries will have the graves of military veterans decorated with roses on Memorial Day, May 27, through the Memorial Day Flowers Program. Ramiro Peñaherrera, head of the Flowers for Kids program and a director of the new nonprofit foundation sponsoring the Memorial Day project, told The Produce News as of late April that about 170 floral retail operations had already signed up. The program began last year when 50,000 roses... Read more

Nevado Roses in Ecuador opened a new I Love Roses luxury rose shop in the new airport near Quito, Ecuador, in a ceremony on April 15. The shop in the tax-free departures area of the International Departures Hall in the newly inaugurated Mariscal Antonio Jose de Sucre International Airport will carry a variety of rose products, the company stated in a news release. In addition to fresh roses in bunches, the shop will sell preserved roses, and products made with... Read more

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved nearly $3.3 million to fund critical floral and nursery industry research projects in 2013 through the 2008 farm bill pest and disease program. This includes several projects of direct benefit to greenhouse and nursery growers, according to a news release from the Society of American Florists. One project of particular importance to the greenhouse and nursery industry, awarded the full $159,000 request, would fund... Read more

After months of intense negotiations, a bipartisan group of eight U.S. Senators announced a sweeping immigration bill April 18 that includes a guest worker visa program vital to the floral and agricultural industries. The 844-page bill is designed to secure the border, allow foreign workers into the country while requiring employers to verify their legal status, and put 11 million people here illegally on a path to citizenship. The news conference unveiling the... Read more

Independent garden center owners and managers were told by retail specialists that unless they change they probably will go out of business. “The future of many independent retail garden centers is an economic improbability,” was the glum prediction of Sid Raisch at a two-day forum Jan. 30-31 in Nashville, TN, sponsored by OFA, an association of horticultural professionals. Mr. Raisch pointed out that the average sale per customer at North American independent... Read more

An expected crowd of more than 1,200 will hear Joe Theismann, former star quarterback for the Washington Redskins pro football team, deliver the keynote address for the Southern California Expo of the Fresh Produce & Floral Council on July 17 at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. A capacity crowd of more than 250 exhibitors is also expected; they would occupy all 195 exhibitor booth spaces on the show floor, said Carissa Mace, head of the council, in an interview.... Read more

Proflora, the biennial Colombian flower show, will feature exhibits, farm tours, a golf tourney, opening ceremony with the president of Colombia welcoming attendees, grower and breeder competitions, and a noted closing party. The show will be held Oct. 2-4 at the Corferias convention center in Bogotá, Columbia. This 2011 show was held in expanded quarters in a new pavilion at Conferias, where most events and all exhibits could be housed under one roof. The new... Read more