September 2024 - 38

PERSPECTIVES | BY DELLA FETZER
Local propagation is the future
It's 2015 and I'm trekking
14 miles a day through fields of
spruce, hoisting up branches with a
gardening pole the length of my body.
I'm praying not to spot the egg sac of
an invasive pest that's haunted U.S.
forests and agriculture since it was
released in the 1800s.
In 2019, I'm chewing my tongue
in the windowless conference room
for the fourth time this month. We're
meeting again about how many tens
of thousands of dollars we should
spend testing for Xylella fastidiosa in
the tissue culture we plan to export,
as the same bacteria decimates
European olive orchards.
Different setting, same problem:
our industry is conditioned to
bargain ecological safety plus piles of
hard-earned nursery dollars for the
promise of cheaper plants produced
with foreign labor.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Colonists brought the first
documented foreign plant material from
their European homes in the 1600s.
Today, U.S.-bound plant imports have
leapt 35% in just the past three years
and have outpaced our exports by
nearly seven times (trademap.org,
2023). We can order plant materials
from any climatic region or wage
system on earth, and expect delivery
within days by chilled cargo plane.
But what is turning away from local
propagation truly costing us?
Along with rising plant imports,
costs of battling invasive pests and
pathogens in the U.S. have exploded
from $2 billion per year in the 1960s
to over $26 billion per year today
(NeoBiota, 2021).
38
SEPTEMBER 2024 GPNMAG.COM
WHAT DO WE GAIN
BY RETURNING TO LOCAL PROPAGATION?
We grasp unique advantages when local propagation is our default.
We AVOID:
* Unnecessary exposure to
ecological and financial disaster
* Ever-changing compliance and
import restrictions
* Quality decline during
long shipments
* International freight and
logistics costs
* Excessive carbon consumption
and packaging waste
* Compromised intellectual property
* Overhead-intensive
negotiations with foreign
suppliers and
customs agencies
* Disconnection
from our work
It's tempting to task science and
government with preventing all plant
disease outbreaks - but would
you trust even the best doctor to
accurately flag every disease another
patient might transmit to you? How
about the best politician? Of course
not, especially while new mutations
arise every day. We can't expect
scientists and governing bodies like
the USDA to protect against all risk of
ecological and financial disaster even
as imports skyrocket.
If invasive diseases and pests cost
the U.S. more than the entire U.S.
horticulture market is worth ($18
billion), and if plant material import
increases our exposure to these
We MAINTAIN:
* Supply chains and ecosystems
uninterrupted by foreign
pathogens and pests
* Focus on value-add activities
in our workflow
* Higher levels of sanity
We ACHIEVE:
* Safer, more secure
businesses and ecosystems
* Increased pride and connection
in our work
* Process control
* A workflow that makes sense
because it aligns with why we
started in the industry
* More reasons to invest in our teams,
habitats and local economies
threats, isn't it time to solve local
propagation again?
WHY TODAY IS THE RIGHT
TIME TO EMBRACE LOCAL
(AGAIN)
Costs of plant material imports
have increased due to heightened
restrictions, rising freight and
logistics costs, instability from
political unrest, rising overhead and
management costs and increasing
costs to quarantine pathogens. These
costs are frequently overlooked, but
will continue to escalate.
Encouragingly, incentives for
domestic production are making
a comeback.
http://www.trademap.org http://www.GPNMAG.COM
September 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2024
