AmericanHort

AmericanHort teamed up with the National Association of Landscape Professionals, the Seasonal Employment Alliance, and the H-2B Workforce Coalition to host a “day of action” on November 13. Over 150 H-2B users from across the country, most from the landscape industry, came to Washington, DC to advocate for H-2B cap relief to be included in any final spending bill passed by Congress. We are grateful for all of our members who came to the Nation’s Capital for the November 13 event. AmericanHort and state partner associations sent a grassroots appeal as well, which led to several hundred additional emails and calls to Congressional offices as well. If you have not yet communicated your support to Congress for H-2B cap relief, please act now. During Hill meetings and via grassroots messages, our members asked that their elected officials sign onto a letter to Congressional leaders calling for cap relief Craig J. Regelbrugge

to be included in a final spending bill. Senators King (I-ME) and Rounds (R-SD) and Reps. Bergman (R-MI) and Keating (D-MA) are leading these letters. We will share the final letters shortly, but our preliminary intelligence shows that our Hill outreached resulted in a large bipartisan group of lawmakers signing onto these letters, with 30 signatories in the Senate and 100 in the House. As with past years, “must do” appropriations bills offer the best opportunity to pass temporary H-2B cap relief, while we work toward a permanent solution to the H-2B labor crisis. House and Senate leaders have agreed to a temporary spending bill to fund the federal government through December 20 while lawmakers work to reach an agreement on a host of fiscal 2020 spending bills. The House and Senate are expected to vote on the measure the week of November 18. We will keep you updated on the status of efforts to pass FY 2020 cap relief quickly. We are also continuing to work to negotiate a permanent H-2B relief bill. ❦ Craig Regelbrugge

On November 15, The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a final rule that rescinds the H-2B requirement to advertise in print newspapers and instead requires that all jobs be posted on SeasonalJobs.dol.gov, which will be an expanded version of the existing DOL job registry. The new rule takes effect on December 16. Employers with existing notices of acceptance from DOL will need to follow the instructions in the letter related to print advertising. Starting December 16, DOL will remove this broad-based print newspaper requirement in lieu of advertising on the electronic job registry. However, in certain circumstances DOL may still require print advertisements if it believes that newspaper advertising is more effective in a specific geographic location. Employers should follow the advertising instructions in their notices of acceptance from DOL. ❦

Laurie-Ann Flanagan Laurie-Ann Flanagan is Executive Vice President at DC Legislative and Regulatory Services, Inc. (DCLRS) with over 20 years of experience in the federal legislative and regulatory process. Laurie and DCLRS work closely with AmericanHort on a variety of issues including energy, labor and immigration, pesticides and fertilizers, small business, and water policy. Laurie chairs the H-2B Workforce Coalition on behalf of AmericanHort and NALP.

The Agricultural Trucking Relief Act, a top priority of the Impact Washington summit in September, has continued to garner steady support, with eight new Representatives signing on in support since the conference. The legislation would address confusion over the “agricultural commodity” definition currently in use for transportation policy, providing much-needed clarity for stakeholders, by specifically adding horticulture and floriculture to the definition. Tal Coley

The eight House offices were all visited by our summit attendees in September — Reps. Bob Gibbs (R-OH), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), John Moolenaar (R-MI), Ben Cline (R-VA), Mike Bost (R-IL), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Michael Guest (R-MS), and Andy Harris (R-MD). ❦

Tal Coley Tal is AmericanHort’s Director of Government Affairs and is a veteran of the United States Air Force where he served as a Russian Cryptologic Linguist at Ft. Meade, Md.

The Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show, Inc. (MANTS ®

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was established in 1970 by the Maryland and Virginia Nurserymen’s Associations. The West Virginia Nurserymen’s Association became the third partner in 1972. All three State Nursery and Landscape Associations are equal sponsors of the show.

MANTS is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of three directors from each member state. They meet three times annually, including the day preceding the show. The Board elects its officers - president, vice president, secretary and treasurer at its first board meeting following MANTS, usually in February.

Carville M. Akehurst was MANTS’ first Executive Vice President, a position he held until his death in 2001. Nancy Akehurst, a force behind MANTS from the beginning, was appointed by the Board to succeed her husband, which she did until her retirement in 2005. Vanessa Akehurst Finney follows in her family’s footsteps as MANTS’ third Executive Vice President and continues to serve in this capacity.

The first trade show was held in Williamsburg, Virginia in January 1971 with 64 exhibitors and the second in 1972 at the Hunt Valley Inn in Cockeysville, Maryland with 79 exhibitors. During the ensuing years the show continued to grow with several more in Hunt Valley and

three at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The January 1980 show was held in Norfolk, Virginia and all subsequent winter shows have been held at the Baltimore Convention Center in Maryland. MANTS uses 300,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, the maximum amount available on one level at the Baltimore Convention Center.

MANTS held a summer trade show in Virginia Beach, Virginia from 1987 until 1990 and then at the Baltimore Convention Center until 1996. The summer show was discontinued following the 1996 show to focus on the annually expanding winter show.

MANTS is widely known as The Masterpiece of Trade Shows™ and the place where industry members gather every January because MANTS means business. We are one of or perhaps the only horticulture trade show in the country that does not offer classroom education. In the earliest years of MANTS, there was some education and guest speakers. Most notably, Jackie Robinson (#42) came to MANTS at the Hunt Valley Marriott in 1972 (our second year) and gave a talk. Those who shared their memories of that event talked about his incredible story. Our three sponsor organizations, the state nursery and landscape associations of MD, VA, and WV, host their own

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educational conferences separate from MANTS. Today, All education at MANTS takes place on the show floor between exhibitor and attendee.

Looking at a five-year running average, MANTS annually hosts close to 960 exhibiting companies in 1,530+ booths and welcomes 11,000 paid registrants (including exhibitors). MANTS draws exhibitors and attendees primarily from throughout the United States and Canada, and from Great Britain, Australia, Europe and Asia as well.

Today, MANTS has an exhibitor waiting list and strives to accommodate as many space requests from current and prospective exhibitors alike.

We are proud to celebrate the 50th anniversary of MANTS in 2020. While the event is in January, consider this as an invitation to anyone who may have pictures, programs, bulletins, orange jackets or any MANTS memorabilia they may want to give to the show. We are always happy to build the show’s archives.

You cannot talk about the history of MANTS without mentioning the original founders or creators of the show. There was a very popular trade show in eastern New York in the 1960’s and the thought was that it would be nice to do a small regional show in Maryland or Virginia, so businesses did not have to travel so far. In those days the Virginia

and Maryland Nurserymen’s Association hosted a joint event at the Washingtonian Hotel. And, it is from these roots that MANTS began. The primary focus from the beginning was on the exhibitor and attendee relationship … providing a forum for business and the exchange of knowledge. This vison and philosophy for the show has remained front and center for the MANTS Board for fifty years and will undoubtedly continue to be the driving force for years to come.

All of us associated with MANTS are appreciative for the popularity of the show. And, that our exhibitors and attendees continue to put their faith in us as a place where they can come to conduct business, see old friends, meet new ones, learn about new products, share experiences, meet and break bread and be a part of one of the greatest industries on the planet. While there are far too many people to thank without missing more than a few names, please know that we remain grateful and humbled by the industry’s response to the show. We realize that our exhibitors and attendees have many choices as to where they can do business and as always, we thank all of you for choosing MANTS! And, we look forward to continuing to share the MANTS legacy as long as you will allow. Happy 50th Anniversary MANTS!