April 4, 2011

Honorable Ed Hernandez         
California State Senate
California State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Senator Hernandez:

In partnership with the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers (CANGC), the Nursery Growers Association (NGA) of California wishes to lend its support to the passage of SB 625.  With over one hundred members, NGA’s membership represents about 75% of California grower sales.  It is committed to pursuing organizational, educational and legislative initiatives that promote a vibrant nursery growing economy for the benefit of its members and customers. 

NGA members and others engaged in the California nursery trade generate $3.3 billion annually at farm gate value, making them the second largest California state agricultural commodity after dairy. We sell an additional $10.1 billion at retail, and our value-added to the state economy is over $13.5 billion. Our nursery community contributes taxes and fees totaling over $0.9 billion to the state annually, and we employ over 192,000 Californians.

This bill provides statutory authority to permit formation of a California Nursery Producers Commission by large producers of nursery plants upon successful completion of a referendum of those levied. The levied producers would bear the entire cost of the commission’s formation, operation and oversight by the California Department of Food and Agriculture in the same manner as other agricultural commissions operating in the state.

Many agricultural commodities have formed such commissions to unite and amplify their voice, communicate the benefits of their products to the public and others, sponsor university and private research that benefits them, and provide funding to respond to common threats such as invasive pests, drought, and trade issues. The producer members of the nursery community believe they would benefit in a similar manner.

Our nursery community has faced wave after wave of invasive pests, requiring quarantine of our nursery products, costly inspections and treatments, and certifications to make it possible for us to ship healthy plants to many places in California, the United States, and the world. We need a commission to respond to all of these imported pests and diseases in a timely manner, and to educate and involve the public to help us keep them from reaching California or spreading once they are here.

Our segment comprises many small, independent, multi-generational nurseries and growers. We produce horticultural species as diverse as flowers, vegetable, nut and citrus trees, ornamental shrubs, turf, grasses, and Christmas trees. Because our roots are deeply independent and many nurseries share few crops in common, our voice requires the resources of a commission to bring us together and reach out to those who buy from us, regulate our businesses, and tax our profits.

Our nursery producers see an alarming trend for university and cooperative extension research dwindling due to reduction in funding resources. We depend on theoretical and applied research on horticulture from these institutions to quell our pest infestations and develop genetically superior plants that can offer greater resistance to pests and require less water to grow. Successful research opens new knowledge that keeps our water, air, and soil clean, reducing the amount of plant health products required to grow our products. We need the resources of a commission to fund this vital research in the face of continuing debilitating cutbacks.

Establishing the authority to create the commission is only the first step in realizing these goals. Following passage and signature, the California Department of Food and Agriculture will conduct an economic survey of potential commission members at industry expense and will then circulate and tally a referendum petition, also at industry cost. Only with a successful passage of the referendum can the commission become reality.

Thank you for the opportunity to express our support for SB 625. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or the legislative representative of CANGC, Louie Brown with Kahn, Soares & Conway, LLP.

Sincerely,
Robert Crudup
President, Nursery Growers Association of California