Regelbrugge Receives National Plant Board Partnership Award

Allison Westbrook

The National Plant Board has awarded Craig Regelbrugge, the AmericanHort senior vice president for industry advocacy and research, with its Outstanding Partnership Award. The award was presented at the Plant Board’s annual meeting, held in August.

The National Plant Board is a non-profit organization of the plant pest regulatory agencies of each state, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and Guam. In presenting the award, Plant Board president Geir Friisoe of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture noted that Craig has collaborated with the Plant Board for more than 25 years. He has represented the horticulture industry in numerous initiatives to improve federal and state plant health programs and to harmonize plant pest quarantine efforts such as Japanese beetle.

In 1999, Craig was invited by the National Plant Board to co-chair an in-depth stakeholder review of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plant pest prevention and early detection programs. The Safeguarding American Plant Resources report, published in 2000, served as a blueprint for modernizing agency structure and program initiatives. Craig also led the effort to publish the first nationwide summary of each state’s plant quarantine and shipping requirements. The summaries are now available online at nationalplantboard.org. GT