FIRST CLASS US POSTAGE PAID


Maine Landscape and Nursery Association PO Box 4666 Augusta, ME 04330.


LANSING, MI PERMIT NO. 75


What Does The Sequester Mean For Our Industry?


Te broad, automatic federal spending cuts known as “sequestration”


were never really intended to take effect. Yet, the deadline for Congress and the Obama Administration to replace them with a more surgical approach has come and gone. Te details of exactly how much will be cut from the various government agencies and how those cuts will be managed remains unclear. We have heard that some USDA agencies are expecting an across-the-board program cut of 5%. In previous government shutdowns the impacts were more immediate and severe but often left programs that are mostly funded through user fees untouched – like Agriculture Quarantine Inspection (AQI), which is involved in port of entry inspections. Te cuts will also be felt in programs funded through the Farm Bill, like pest and disease management and state specialty crop block grants.


Te cuts could eventually lead to employee furloughs. For APHIS this would mean fewer staff to process propagative plant material entering through the plant inspection stations and fewer port inspectors to screen material for potential pests of agricultural concern. Ongoing research and pest response would likely be impacted, as well. At the Labor Department, furloughs are expected across the board, which may lead to further delays in the already problem-plagued H-2A and H-2B visa programs. ANLA will continue to monitor this developing situation and will share the information with our members, as it becomes available.


Show your professionalism and expertise by displaying MELNA bumper stickers. You can get bumper stickers, now FREE from the MELNA Office...


12


put it on ALL your equipment. Spring2013


need a


green thumb?


www.melna.org


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12