Political priorities

The key political priorities for AmericanHort include ensuring an adequate workforce; business practices, regulation and compliance; research and innovation; and sustainable tools, technologies and practices.

That was the message shared by Craig Regelbrugge, AmericanHort executive vice president of advocacy, research and industry relations, during his portion of the State of the Industry address during Cultivate’23.

Regelbrugge said the current political environment is “about as difficult as I have seen in 30 years.” He noted that “politics has always been a rough and tumble sport.”

“But there used to be a generally accepted appreciation that when the fighting’s over, there’s a time where you have to come together, and you have to find solutions,” he said. “These days, we have a few too many who are coming to Washington to grandstand to build their own version of their own personal brand, and there are fewer incentives than ever to get to solutions...We do have challenges that all can be resolved, but it’s going to require our government functioning in a way that it’s struggling to at the moment.”

In the midst of the current political landscape, Regelbrugge said AmericanHort continues to advocate for vital issues in the horticulture industry.

Pending marker bills include the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which passed the House in both of the last sessions of Congress and has again been reintroduced.

“It’s a piece of legislation that is far from perfect but measurably moves our goals in the terms of H-2A reform and opportunities for the earning of status for members of our current workforce, bringing cost containment to H-2A and various other benefits,” Regelbrugge said, adding that a broader bill, the Dignity Act, also includes those provisions.

Regelbrugge also noted some positive measures happening through targeted appropriations riders.

The H-2B returning worker exemption, which allows experienced and law-abiding H-2B workers to come back in the subsequent year without counting against the artificially low cap, has been included in an appropriations bill and is moving forward, at least for now, he said.

An amendment has also been introduced that would eliminate the requirement that an agricultural job must be seasonal, as defined as 10 months or less, to be filled by an H-2A worker, he said.

“This is strategically, critically important, particularly as we are seeing more and more of our industry happening in controlled environments that can be operating in a year round sort of a way,” Regelbrugge said. “It’s a slog. It’s difficult, but we’re working to chip away, and we’re working to keep our champions motivated.”

Regelbrugge also noted that the Farm Bill is up for its five-year renewal this year. It expires Sept. 30, but he predicted there will be at least one extension.

“For us, the Farm Bill has become the go-to place — programs like the specialty crop research initiative, plant pest and disease mitigation and disaster prevention program, various risk management tools — these are all things that are go-tos for us as we attempt to solve problems,” he said. “So our number one goal in the Farm Bill debate is to hold what we got and build on it where we can.”

Speaking for himself, not on behalf of AmericanHort, Regelbrugge took issue with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ treatment of immigrants, noting that it has “profound implications for what are the three pillars of the Florida economy: agriculture, tourism and construction.” He also noted that DeSantis — whose eight great-grandparents immigrated from Italy — is not alone in his actions.

“It’s become almost a litmus test, it seems at times, the using of the I word — immigration and immigrants — to fan flames in order to achieve popular support,” Regelbrugge said. “We certainly have legitimate challenges as a nation. I believe we would all agree we should have secure and well-managed borders. We should have orderly processes to come here. We should have respect for the rule of law. But I personally have approximately zero tolerance for the demagoguing and the scapegoating of immigrants for all of our ills and challenges...Our industry has been built from the ground up and grown from the ground up and achieve the success you achieve largely with the helping hands of a lot of hard-working women and men who are not from around here and came here in a variety of contexts.”

Regelbrugge encouraged horticulture industry members to participate in the political process, as well as attend AmericanHort’s Impact Washington Summit in Washington, D.C. The keynote speaker was former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.

“Maryland is one of the bluest states in the country, and Governor Hogan ran as a Republican and was elected and reelected and left office with an 80% approval rating, simply because he was thoughtful, listening, bringing people together, trying to get to solutions to problems. He ended up an amazingly popular governor,” Regelbrugge said. “And I think it’s emblematic of the kind of leadership, the kind of thought leadership that’s going to take to move our country to its next level.”

The author is associate editor of Garden Center magazine.