The Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued a final rule that, effective April 16, will authorize the importation of Campanula spp. plants for planting from Denmark in approved growing media. Such imports will be subject to a systems approach that includes measures currently specified in the regulations as generally applicable to all plants for planting authorized to be imported into the U.S. in approved growing media.
APHIS states that although this rule could theoretically enable Denmark-based exporters to bypass U.S. growers altogether and provide finished plants directly to retailers, such a scenario is considered unlikely given the additional shipping and marketing support costs associated with shipping finished plants in pots. It is more likely, APHIS states, that Danish growers would continue to export immature plants to U.S. growers who would then grow them out for sale as finished plants. This action is likely to benefit both importers and domestic intermediate growers by increasing production quality while expanding market size.