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Post by billw on Jan 8, 2016 21:27:11 GMT -5
I recently had my first experience obtaining phytosanitary certs and it left me wondering... do these things serve any real purpose? As far as I can tell, they don't serve as any kind of assurance that plants are clean, but merely that paperwork is filed and that government got a check. There was absolutely no way that they could have determined if my samples were infected with anything. Is it a more intensive inspection for major crops or is it all just a big waste of time?
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Post by diane on Jan 8, 2016 21:50:10 GMT -5
Are you talking about seeds?
I've had plants inspected and issued a phyto in a number of countries, many times over the last 50 years. They always get
re-inspected in Canada. Once some plants that I was bringing home from Japan were discovered to have an insect. It was killed,
and I was allowed to keep my plants.
I remember one inspector in the U.S. (can't remember the state) who was surprised when I expected him to go
out to my car and actually inspect my plants. Of course, I insisted. I wasn't going to import something nasty to my
country. All other U.S. inspectors have been super careful, though.
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Post by MikeH on Jan 9, 2016 10:40:52 GMT -5
I recently had my first experience obtaining phytosanitary certs and it left me wondering... do these things serve any real purpose? As far as I can tell, they don't serve as any kind of assurance that plants are clean, but merely that paperwork is filed and that government got a check. There was absolutely no way that they could have determined if my samples were infected with anything. Is it a more intensive inspection for major crops or is it all just a big waste of time? I suspect that the inspection is based on the plant and its economic significance. Plum pox is an increasing problem in Ontario. Although the main vector of the virus are aphids, absent aphids you'd have to test in a lab. The story is that infected scion wood was brought into the country by a grower in Niagara. Who Knows? The first check would be visual and then, depending on the economic significance of the plant, lab testing at the importer's cost. California seems to have taken a much "easier" approach - here's the black list. |
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Post by castanea on Jan 10, 2016 23:11:29 GMT -5
In some countries they churn them out like postage stamps with little or no inspection.
Phytos though are for us little people. If you are a major ag importer wanting to bring in thousands of plants or thousands of pounds of something, you are effectively waved on through with minimal inconvenience.
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Post by diane on Jan 10, 2016 23:59:55 GMT -5
That's not so bad as it seems, though. Sure enough, every plant in a semi is not going to be looked at, but the U.S. nurseries where the plants were grown seem to be well-inspected. When I buy plants in the U.S., I am offered an inspection sticker, but tell the nursery owner that it won't be enough - I need an inspection and a phyto.
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Post by prairiegarden on Jan 11, 2016 15:32:33 GMT -5
What are they trying to prove? Against my better judgement I bought a gooseberry from a chain store and two days after I got it home and before I got it planted a whole lot of little worms showed up on it.( and ONLY on it). So what good the so called "inspection"?
In the meantime I just got an invitation to ask for a catalog from One Green World, I got on their mailing list because I asked last year if they shipped to Canada. They said no, the paperwork was too expensive to bother with for small orders. So now they are inadvertently adding insult to injury by showing me all those luscious plants forever out of reach...
Everything too expensive now anyway with the ridiculous exchange.. even seed packets can be counted on to end up pretty much at least twice the price by the time everything is figured out. So of course, prices on this side of the border are also rising... So much for "free trade". Humbug.
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Post by steev on Jan 11, 2016 20:22:07 GMT -5
That large corporations can be counted on to always do the right and prudent thing is unquestionable; Enron, Exxon, BP, Monsanto, Goldman-Sachs, and Volkswagen are just a representative few of these paragons of social and environmental virtuous responsibility, which they do believe trumps financial gain; they are certainly worthy of governmental trust, as government itself is worthy of trust (all rise and sing your appropriate national anthem; don't be embarrassed if you tear up; we all understand; we've all been there). It's not as if they should be red-taped like us; they aren't scuffling little rat-ferrets like us; they're mighty dinosaurs, astride the World like Bubba on a ewe.
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