ELSEWHERE 



THE NEW 



Biological Control 

 Conference 



On Monday, November 17, UMass 

 Extension is sponsoring a one-day 

 (8:30-3:30) conference, "Focusing 

 on Biological Control for the 

 Green Industry," at the Campus 

 Center at the University of Massa- 

 chusetts in Amherst. There are 

 three concurrent sessions: "Nurs- 

 ery and Greenhouse Manage- 

 ment," "Greenhouse Floriculture 

 Crops," and "Turfgrass Manage- 

 ment " Speakers include Stanton 

 Gill (University of Maryland), Dan 

 Gilrein and Margery Daughtry 

 (both from Cornell), and Graeme 

 Murphy, a greenhouse crops spe- 

 cialist from Ontario, Canada. 



Cost (before November 1 I ) is 

 $95.00. This includes lunch and 

 parking pass. For information 

 about general registration, call 

 Kathleen Carroll at 413-545-0895. 



CGGA Tackles 

 Greenhouse Taxation 



{Plugged \n, Issue 2, 1997) 



After two years of debate and re- 

 search, the Connecticut Green- 

 house Growers' Association issued 

 in late )une voluntary guidelines 

 for assessing greenhouses and 

 their equipment for property taxes 

 in the states 169 towns. It's be- 

 lieved to be first such document 

 prepared by a state greenhouse 

 association the United States and 

 may form the basis for similar 

 moves in other states. 



The guidelines took months of 

 research for CGGAs Legislative 

 Chairman Frank Hufner (Cedar Hill 

 Farm, Newtown), Executive Direc- 

 tor Bob Heffernan, Len Van Win- 

 gerden (Grower Direct, Somers) 

 and the University of Connec- 

 ticut's lohn Bartok. 



CGGA also worked closely with 

 the Connecticut Tax Assessors As- 

 sociation, providing a tour for a 



delegation of assessors on March 

 13 at Woodland Gardens in Man- 

 chester and, later, a three-hour 

 briefing for over 100 assessors at 

 their annual meeting on )une 3. 



Connecticut's 169 towns are es- 

 sentially 169 fiefdoms, where each 

 local assessor decides on his own 

 how the town will assess green- 

 houses and their equipment. 

 There was no uniformity from town 

 to town. 



Also, local assessors — lacking 

 other data — were referring to na- 

 tional guides such as Marsfiall and 

 Swift, where suggested values for 

 greenhouses were dramatically ex- 

 aggerated and out-of-line with the 

 Connecticut economy. 



There were no laws in the Con- 

 necticut General Statutes govern- 

 ing the taxation of greenhouses 

 until 1991, when the Connecticut 

 Nurserymen's Association suc- 

 ceeded in pushing through the 

 legislature an exemption targeting 

 overwintering hoop houses. 



Gradually, other farmers (dairy, 

 etc.) began putting up green- 

 houses for a variety of uses: stor- 

 ing equipment, calves, etc. That 

 drew the Connecticut Farm Bureau 

 into the issue. In December, 1995, 

 the group came to the CGGA and 

 proposed a bill for the 1996 legis- 

 lative session that would become 

 essentially a uniform greenhouse 

 taxation statute applying to all 

 towns. 



The CGGA Board asked the 

 Farm Bureau not to introduce such 

 a bill, feeling that without badly 

 needed research and consultation, 

 the bill would do more damage 

 than good. A task force was 

 formed to investigate the issue, 

 but, unfortunately, because of 

 changes in Farm Bureau staff, 

 CGGA became the sole group in- 

 vestigating. 



Early on, the Board had to de- 

 cide whether to shoot for legisla- 

 tion that would dictate how towns 



assess greenhouses or for some 

 sort of voluntary guidelines devel- 

 oped with the state assessors' as- 

 sociation 



CGGA opted for the voluntary 

 route, holding out for legislation 

 when and if the voluntary guide- 

 lines were deemed to have no im- 

 pact — perhaps two or three years 

 in the future 



The final version of the guide- 

 lines went through ten drafts, hav- 

 ing been circulated to numerous 

 in-state growers who had experi- 

 ence in greenhouse construction 

 and to out-of-state greenhouse 

 construction companies. In every 

 case, the per square-foot figures 

 for new construction were much 

 lower than the figures being used 

 by assessors across the state. 



CGGA is to be congratulated for 

 openly dealing with a volatile is- 

 sue, looking for solutions that 

 would be fair to a number of in- 

 terest groups. 



For a copy of the guidelines, 

 contact the Connecticut Green- 

 house Growers' Association, PO 

 Box 415, Botsford, CT 06404. The 

 telephone number is 203-261-9067; 

 fax, 203-261-5429. 



PPA's Plant of the Year 



The Perennial Plant Association 

 will be promoting purple cone- 

 flower {Echinacea Purpurea 'Magnus') 

 as its 1998 Plant of the Year. 



Hardy to Zone 4, the cone- 

 flower's solitary daisy-like heads 

 on long (2-4 feet) sturdy stalks are 

 familiar in New England gardens 

 and the PPA's promotion of 

 'Magnus' should increase their 

 general popularity. 



For information and promo- 

 tional materials, contact the PPA 

 at 3383 Schirtzinger Road, Hilliard, 

 OH 43026. The phone number is 

 614-771-8431; fax, 614-876-5238. 



OCTOBER & NOVEMBER 1997 



