AIPH/FCI "International grower of the Year" 2009

During the 61st Annual Congress of the International Association of Horticulture Producers (AIPH), six horticulure growers from six countries competed for the first "International Grower of the Year" Contest. The coountries represented were Belgium (AVBS), Colombia (Asoccolflores/Ceniflores), England (NFU), Germany (Taspo/ZVG), The Netherlands (Horticultural Business Prize) and Spain (FEPEX).

The Award Ceremony took place during the AIPH Gala Dinner on 15th September 2009 in Zaragoza, Spain, the host city of the 2009 AIPH Congress. All six entries were winners of their respective competitions and the six judges also came from the six participating countries.

The Winner of the Golden Rose was SYLVA VAN HULLE Forest Nursery from Belgium and here Marc van Hulle, Chairman, can be seen receiving the award from the AIPH President Doeke Faber. Marc is also Treasurer of EFNA.

The citation for the winner stated:

- A well-balanced management attitude
- Development of a detailed program for personnel management
- Clear modern strategy and market vision
- Sustainable program under the 3 Ps People, Planet and Profit
- Innovation in product grading with a strict accent on quality delivered

Marc van Hulle with the Golden Rose

52nd Meeting of EFNA, Prague 5-7th June 2009

The 2009 Meeting of the Association took place in the K&K Hotel Fenix, near the centre of Prague. This was very convenient for visiting the historic parts of the city which several members who had arrived early did on the Friday. The Association Dinner on the Friday night this year took the form of a Buffet in the main Dining Room of the Hotel.

During the Business meeting on the Saturday Vincent Naudet from France was elected President, replacing Klaus Natlacen of Austria and Leon Faassen was elected First Vice President. It was also agreed that the Second Vice President would come from the Swedish delegation.

Andy Gordon agreed to stay on as Secretary for a further four years so that when Leon Faassen took over Presidency in three years there would not be a double change of officers.

Some of the members seen during the business meeting

While the business meeting was taking place, the accompanying wives went on a conducted tour of the old city and Castle areas.

On Saturday evening members and partners were the guests of three Czech companies involved in forestry and forest nurseries, at the U Flecku Brewery and Restaurant where they were able to relax and join in the singing and dancing of the many other groups present.

The 9am departure by minibus to the nurseries of Lesoskolky s.r.o at Revany nad Labem about 100km east of Prague, proved a difficult test for some members who had stayed late at U Flecku.

After visiting two of the several different nursery sites owned by Lesoskolky s.r.o in the area, members were treated to light refreshments before being transported back to Prague Airport or City Centre.

Members of the Association visiting one of the nursery sites in Revany nad Labem.

51st Meeting of EFNA Stratford-upon-Avon 6th & 7th June 2008

The annual meeting of EFNA returned to the UK after a gap of eight years and was held in the historic town of Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace. The venue was the Mercure Shakespeare Hotel, right in the centre of the town, which was convenient for wives and accompanying persons for site-seeing and shopping.

As usual the EFNA dinner took place on the Friday night, in the hotel, with the businesss meeting on the Saturday morning and afternoon.



EFNA delegates and observers from Bulgaria during the business meeting

On the Saturday evening delegates and wives were treated to a very fine meal at a local restaurant courtesy of the joint hosts The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) and the Confederation of Forest Industries (Confor).

On the Sunday morning in perfect sunny weather delegates visited the six year old nursery of J & A Growers at Wasperton, which is now producing over 7 million seedlings for the nursery industry.


EFNA delegates inspect the young seedlings at J & A Growers at Wasperton, Warwickshire.

50th Meeting of EFNA and its founding organisation. Helsinki 16th & 17th June 2007

To celebrate the 50th meeting of the Committee of Forest Nurseries in the EU, which until 2005 was the name by which the group of private European Forest Nurserymen was known, a celebration dinner was held at the Hotel Scandic Continental on 15th June to which all past Presidents and members were invited with their wives. A total of over 50 members and guest sat down to a typical Finnish meal and at the end presentations were made to past Presidents attending.

Members and Past Members of EFNA gather before the Official Dinner to celebrate the 50th meeting.

While the business meeting took place on the Saturday, a guided tour of the city was organised for the accompanying persons and on the Sunday a visit was organised to the private Forelia Nursery about one hour’s drive north of Helsinki.

Members inspect the older stock in the Forelia Nursery

Consolidated Complaint to the European Commission over the activities of the Zertifizierungsring für überprüfbare Forstliche Herkunft Süddeutschland (ZüF)

A Consortium of private nurseries and state officials in Bavaria and Baden Württemberg in Germany (ZüF) was created in the year 2000 with the objectives of imposing certain requirements on producers of Forest Reproductive Material (FRM) in Southern Germany, which are over and above those contained in Directive 1999/105. Under this Directive each member country of the EU is entitled to impose additional requirements during the certification of FRM but under the founding Treaty under which all trade within the EU takes place, such a Certification scheme must be available to nurseries and seed companies in all Member States.

EFNA lodged an official complaint with the European Commission in November 2003 over the activities of ZüF but after a number of meetings with EFNA and a request for more evidence the European Commission rejected EFNA’s complaint.

EFNA was very unhappy about this as the evidence it was asked to produce, by the very nature of tree seed and tree seedling growth, could take up to five years to provide. As part of the evidence, nurseries from five different EU member states applied for membership of ZüF but all were rejected. They all also tried to purchase forest seed certified by ZüF. In every case this was rejected.

As a result of this new evidence, EFNA asked for a meeting with the Legal Unit of DG Sanco in December 2007 at which the evidence was produced. Because of the very lengthy nature of its complaint, EFNA was asked to produce a consolidated complaint, outlining the history of the complaint, contacts with the Southern German Forestry Departments, contacts with ZüF and previous contacts with DG Sanco. This consolidated complaint was dispatched to Brussels in the first week of February 2008. Apart from a formal registration of EFNA's complaint nothing at all has been heard from the European Commission on this subject, as of July 2009.

Unless some decision is forthcoming soon, forest nurseries outside Germany will effectively be banned from supplying forest plants into two of the largest forestry states in the Federal Republic. EFNA re-iterates that it has legal opinion to substantiate its claim that European legislation is being wilfully broken on a number of issues.

The nurseryman's task gets more difficult every year!

For reasons not yet clear, although it may have something to do with global warming and the vast increase in travel by everybody, more and more plant diseases are attacking the trees and shrubs growing in Europe. These diseases, although usually previously recognised, have recently started to reach levels where phytosanitary actions are necessary. They have even reached epidemic levels in some instances in some countries.

Just at a time when new remedies are required, it is sad to report that fewer and fewer are now available to the nurseryman. There are a number of reasons for this.

Forest and hardy nursery stock nurseries represent only a tiny proportion of the total plant production industry world wide. In the past remedies devised for other agricultural and horticultural crops could be employed in forestry and hardy nursery stock nurseries without additional trials. More recently world wide legislation has required that a product must be tested for the crop upon which it is to be used. These trial often take several years and are very costly to lay down and monitor. The potential revenue to the companies is usually too small to warrant the cost of the trial and as a result yet another effective product to the forest and hardy nursery stock industry is removed.

It is ironic that mankind spends vast sums of money trying to find remedies for human diseases such as AIDS and no one objects on environmental grounds when an effective treatment is found and distributed world wide.

However when a remedy for a plant disease is found before it can be released it has to undergo the most severe testing and an assessment of its possible effect on the environment made. Many releases are accompanied by a strong campaigns against their release. Andy yet many of these products are little different from the products used for humans and animals which are called medicines. But when they are called chemicals and are to be used on plants, a blind panic sets in in the environmental lobby and there is an immediate call for them to be banned.

The final straw to break the nurseryman's back may well be new legislation which is being considered in the European Union at the moment, ( Brief description required). If it is adopted, despite the strongest possible lobby against it by all branches of the agriculture industry, it would even further reduce the number of remedies available to nurserymen. When plants are grown very close together they are at greater risk from the spread of infection. When human beings and animals are living and growing very close together they are also at greater risk of infection. Why should the two kingdoms be treated differently?