New ways over the horizon to manage plant risks

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.

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Photo by Devi Puspita Amartha Yahya on Unsplash

Source: Greenhouse Grower