H-2B cap met for first half of 2008
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received enough petitions to meet the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the first half of fiscal year 2008. Congress has not reauthorized or extended the return worker exemption for the coming year, so USCIS must count all petitions requesting H-2B workers for new employment with an employment start date of Oct. 1, 2007, or later toward the FY2008 H-2B cap. Support for extending the returning worker exemption continues to grow on Capitol Hill, said ANLA's retained lobbyist, Laurie-Ann Flanagan of D.C. Legislative and Regulatory Services Inc. The Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act (S. 988, H.R. 1843) has 28 cosponsors in the Senate and 80 in the House.

Commerce secretary: immigration reform vital
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said the economy will suffer if Congress doesn't pass comprehensive immigration reform, The State newspaper reported. Gutierrez said during a visit to Univ. of South Carolina last week that the U.S. doesn't have enough workers to keep the economy growing with the nation's working-age population expected to grow just 0.3% annually over the next decade. "For me, this is about numbers. It's about arithmetic. It's about reality. I'm trying to stay away from the emotions of immigration," Gutierrez said.

GreatPlants selects top plants for the Plains
GreatPlants celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2008. The program's recommendations include: tree of the year: Ostrya virginiana, American hophornbeam; conifer: Pinus bungeana, lacebark pine; shrub: Euonymus atropurpurea, Eastern wahoo; perennial: Geum triflorum, prairie smoke; grass: Bouteloua gracilis, blue grama. GreatPlants is a joint effort of Nebraska Nursery & Landscape Assoc. and Nebraska Statewide Arboretum. The program selects and promotes exceptional plants that are reliably hardy, easy to care for and ornamentally worthwhile.

Florida names 6 plants for promotion in 2008
Meanwhile, FNGLA named its Florida Plants of the Year: Aloysia virgata, almond bush; Dichorisandra thyrsiflora, blue ginger; Mimosa strigillosa; Quercus geminata, sand live oak; Sabal minor, dwarf palmetto; and Stromanthe sanguinea 'Triostar.' "In choosing the 2008 Florida Plants of the Year, we focused our efforts on picking the best plants from a broad cross-section of the industry as well as plants with large geographic identity," said Rosemary Warner of Native Southeastern Trees in Osteen, chair of the selection committee and FNGLA's incoming president.

Senators push for specialty crops
Several senators are urging Senate Ag., Nutrition and Forestry Committee chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and ranking member Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., to allocate an additional $1.6 billion for specialty crops programs. Previous farm bills offered large subsidies for commodity crops, such as wheat and corn, but largely ignored the needs of growers of specialty crops, such as fruits, vegetables and nursery crops, said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. The 2007 Farm Bill passed by the House contains $ 1.6 billion in mandatory funding for specialty crop programs. The Senate version does not include these provisions.

Worth a visit
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Syngenta remains committed to investing in every aspect of our ornamental business to bring value to growers for producing beautifully strong plants.

Register now! Visit www.midam.org for details. Mid-Am, the Midwest's premier trade show, features hundreds of exhibits, 130+ hours of education, plus much more!

Hortica is the horticultural industry advocate that is a trusted partner for your business insurance, employee benefits and personal insurance. Contact Hortica to discuss your needs.

The ANLA 2008 Management Clinic is coming! February 8-11, 2008 in Louisville, Ken.