Plant importing event held at Provender Nurseries
On Wednesday 9 March 2022, Association member Provender Nurseries hosted an event on behalf of our North Thames regional committee, arranged by committee members Will Innes-Taylor (Oak View Landscapes) and Liz Hughes (Provender Nurseries).
The event represented an opportunity for our members to learn more about the current and forthcoming plant import regulations, but also the challenges facing nurseries such as Provender, who place plant health at the front of their activities.
The event started with a guided tour of Provender Nurseries by managing director Richard McKenna. Together with nursery manager Stuart Tickner, Richard explained that importing plant material is necessary for plant suppliers in the short and medium-term, to ensure access to the wide range of planting material the industry has become accustomed to.
However, to ensure imported material does not pose a risk to native trees and plants, responsible nurseries must take a range of operational measures to meet current and planned plant health measures, which have significant cost implications for the nursery.
One of the main successes of this event, was raising awareness amongst designers and contractors of the steps taken by responsible nurseries to guarantee provenance and quality of planting material.
Following the nursery tour, Tracy Wilson MBE, the plant health technical lead for imports, led a presentation which covered the history of plant importing, the current rules for material and the reasons for the changes due to be introduced from 1 July 2022. Tracy explained in detail the nature of the changes to be introduced, with a particular focus on the role of border control posts and how these will operate.
In addition to resources on Defra’s own Plant Health Portal, the technical section of our website contains a series of pages dedicated to plant health information with guidance for designers and contractors on the rules and what these mean for stakeholders.
We would like to thank the North Thames regional committee and Provender Nurseries for organising and hosting a successful event.
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