White House Releases Pollinator Strategy

Society of American Florists

This week, the White House released its long-awaited National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. All in all, it can be greeted with cautious optimism by the horticulture industry. The strategy has three major goals: Reducing honey bee colony losses; increasing Monarch butterfly numbers; and restoring or enhancing millions of acres of land as pollinator habitat, through public and private action. The release comes nearly a year after President Obama launched a pollinator task force consisting of a wide range of federal agencies, led by USDA and EPA.

SAF joined with AmericanHort, the American Floral Endowment and the Horticultural Research Institute to release a joint statement embracing key aspects of the strategy, and citing its focus on improved habitat, in which horticulture can play a major role. In residential, commercial and urban landscapes, “the best way to support honey bees and other pollinators is to plant healthy and site-appropriate pollinator-friendly plants,” the statement said.  “Professional growers of trees, plants and flowers provide the very thing pollinators need to thrive.”

The strategy’s overarching goals fit well with the goals established by AmericanHort and SAF in the Bee and Pollinator Stewardship Initiative, growwise.org. 

As might be expected, the strategy does sound a few more ominous notes. It has more reliance on “native plants” than one might wish to see. While in many situations native plants may be the logical choice, in others, “all site-appropriate, non-invasive pollinator-friendly plants should be embraced,” said the statement.

On the subject of neonicotinoids, the industry’s statement noted, “we are pleased to acknowledge the clearly-stated commitment to following the science.” As the industry-funded research, and the research supported by USDA and required by EPA proceeds, more clarity on the use of neonicotinoids, a class of chemicals very important to continued industry efforts to maintain IPM and other good management practices, should emerge.

Some activist groups have criticized the White House strategy for failing to take more stringent actions, especially against pesticides—even though habitat loss, the Varroa mite and increasingly poor nutrition are widely recognized as primary contributors to colony loss.

SAF Expresses Concern Over Increased Healthcare Costs
SAF and several other organizations have submitted comments to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) expressing concern about how a tax on employer-sponsored health coverage imposed by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could jeopardize the healthcare coverage of many Americans.

Until the enactment of the ACA, health insurance that was provided by an employer wasn’t taxed. Because of that, employers often offered health insurance as part of their compensation package to attract and retain employees who found healthcare beneficial and desirable.

Claiming that many employer-provided health plans were “overly generous” and encouraged “overconsumption” of healthcare, which drove up prices for others, proponents of the ACA advised taxing those plans to help pay for the ACA.

Under the ACA, health plans that cost more than $10,200 annually for single coverage and $27,500 for family coverage were deemed “Cadillac Plans” and would be taxed at a 40% rate beginning in 2018. The annual threshold to trigger the tax would be indexed to the consumer price index (CPI), rather than the increase in healthcare costs, which are typically twice the CPI. The tax could generate $87 billion to fund the ACA.

The IRS hasn’t determined a date when the rules will be released, but it did announce that the tax would not only apply to health insurance, but also to health savings and flexible spending accounts, including money workers now save tax-free for medical expenses. Supplemental insurance plans will also be included and, potentially, on-site clinics companies set up for their workers.

The comments submitted by SAF and others expressed deep concern regarding the consequences of the tax on American workers and families, noting that 151 million Americans rely on employer-based plans. The comments urged the IRS and the Treasury Department to exercise the maximum flexibility possible in developing the rules in order to ensure that employers and workers aren’t penalized when healthcare benefits are provided.

New USDA Response Announced to Gladiolus Rust Finds Within U.S.
Growers and state regulators will no longer be required to eradicate gladiolus rust when it’s found within the U.S., according to an announcement released today by USDA’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

Until the existing federal import regulations can be revised, APHIS will continue to inspect imported gladiolas at the border for the disease, but the agency is initiating a rulemaking to eliminate that requirement, as well. Other gladiolus rust pathogens not known to occur in the U.S., including Puccinia gladioli, Puccinia mccleanii and others, will continue to be regulated if they’re found, either domestically or at the border.

“Based on the current distribution of the disease and its known biology and plant hardiness zones in the United States, the pathogen has spread to the limits of its natural range,” the announcement said.

The disease was first detected in the U.S. in 2006, and subsequent finds in Florida and California have caused significant economic disruption for growers in those states. GT