No news from MDARD or the Governor’s office today, but we have legislators stepping up to help us get the word to the Governor about garden centers being essential. Representative Scott Vansingel (100th district, Grant) wrote a very good very good letter you can pull up on Facebook. Senator Victory, Senator Daley, Senator Bumstead and Representative Alexander have all reached out to me to see how they can help with the issue. I have asked for them to all write a letter to the Governor and speak to her Liaison about garden centers. Senator Daley and Representative Alexander both chair Agriculture in their respective chambers, so they will be a big help while Senator Victory has the largest concentration of greenhouses in his district. Please reach out to these legislators and thank them for their work on our behalf.
I want to say thank you to everyone who has emailed or called me with ideas or questions about everything going on and shared their projected losses if the garden centers can’t open soon. Also thanks for sharing MGGC briefings and information around the state so we can keep everyone up to speed as we work together to keep our industry strong.
Goeff Hansen