12 A sea of flowers at 2011 Pack Trials - Floraculture International

World News
United States
White House
takes next
step on FTA
The Obama
administration
this
week took
an important
step
toward
ratifying a
free trade
agreement (FTA) with Colombia when
it announced it was starting “technical
discussions” with Congress on details of
the agreement.
These discussions are the first step in the
deliberate process Congress must undertake
before approving a trade pact.
When ratified by Congress, the free trade
agreement with Colombia would give dutyfree
status to all flowers coming into the
United States from Colombia.
Although there appears to be general support
in Congress for the agreement – and for
those pending with South Korea and Panama
as well – the pact is still controversial, with
labor and business groups gearing up for a
showdown this summer.
Business groups tout job creation and the
opening of new markets for U.S. products as
key benefits of the agreement.Labor groups
claim the pact sends jobs overseas, and they
continue to have deep concerns over treatment
of organized labor in Colombia – despite
the country’s agreement to take a series of
steps to protect unions and labor leaders.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman
Dave Camp (R-4-MI) said he was encouraged
by the Administration’s action and
reaffirmed his desire to advance the trade
pact along with other parts of the U.S. trade
agenda including renewal of the Andean
Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act
(ATPDEA) – an issue SAF members took to
Capitol Hill during SAF’s recent Congressional
Action Days.
While no timetable has been set, there is
hope in Congress that the agreement can
be ratified before the August congressional
recess which begins August 8. |||
Happy Gardening
by Anthony Tesselaar
It's different!
Some part of our brain must be hot-wired to get excited by something
that is different. It's basic instinct. I spot something unexpected and I'm
immediately all eyes and ears. And I know I'm not alone. If you don't
believe me, just stop for a moment when you're next out shopping and
take a look around. I do this a lot, both for professional reasons and
because I'm often travelling with my wife Sheryl who enjoys buying
presents for the family.
People are forever scanning their environment and it's almost as if the
usual is accepted without a break in step. But if you set up a flashing light,
a fresh display or offer a totally new product, it's like a magnet. People
veer off their path and into the orbit of the thing that is different.
Take this car sales yard we spotted in New Zealand a few months ago.
Parts of it are familiar to all of us - shiny new cars arranged on a paved
area immediately outside a sales office. But here it's different. The parking
bays are painted as a pastel piece of horizontal modern art. The black &
white backdrop is another. The overall effect makes a specific potential
market stop and consider buying a car which is itself clearly outside
the range of conventional options. The choice to be different has been
deliberate and I suspect great care was taken in doing so.
Which is my point. There is no question in my mind that being different
is a powerful tool, but it does need to be used with care. Something might
be different but it also needs substance. It's a risk in business terms: what
if the New Zealand car yard had gone too far and alienated it's target
group of potential customers In this case I suspect the owners of the
car yard clearly had to make decisions about the degree of difference, in
everything from the colour of the parking bay lines to the look of their
business cards.
Despite the effort needed both to find a way of being different, and a means
of putting it out there, it's definitely something worth doing. But we still
need to do the housekeeping cross checks - does it mesh in with the business
plan, staff expertise, the budget Because there is a risk that we could fall
victim to the new thing just because it is different and new. After all, the
difference is likely to be as seductive to ourselves as it is to our market.
Anthony Tesselaar hails from Anthony Tesselaar
International, an international project management
company dealing in plants, horticultural research &
development and strategic water management.
www.tesselaar.com / ATesselaar@tesselaar.com
June 2011 | www.FloraCultureInternational.com 39