As we prepare to turn the page on the 116th Congress and welcome in the 117th Congress in January, a shot across the bow of the green industry was made this summer. In August, Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and Representative Joe Neguse (D-CO) in the House introduced the Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act of 2020 (H.R. 7940, S. 4406) which undermines 70 years of regulatory advancement based on best available science. H.R. 7940/ S. 4406 would drastically alter the way pesticides are regulated in the U.S. and would dismantle the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) as we know it today. Some of the most onerous provisions proposed in this legislation include:

• Roll-back pesticide preemption and allow local communities to enact pesticide restrictions and bans even if the actions preempted by state law.
• Immediately ban large categories of pesticides including:

• Organophosphates;
• Neonicotinoids;
• Paraquat; and
• Any product banned or otherwise prohibited by the European Union, 1 or more countries in the European Union, or Canada until EPA completes a thorough scientific review of the product.
• Prohibit EPA from considering economic costs and product benefits in its registration decisions.
• Define a dangerous pesticide as an active ingredient or pesticide product that may:
• Be carcinogenic;
• Be acutely toxic;
• Be an endocrine disruptor;
• Cause harm to a pregnant woman or a fetus; or
• Cause neurological or developmental harm.
• Blindly follow foreign regulatory process and require the suspension and review of pesticides deemed unsafe by Canada and the European Union which do not follow the FIFRA standards.
• Create a petition process to enable individual citizens to petition the EPA to identify dangerous pesticides. EPA must review citizen petitions and determine within 90 days if the pesticide meets the definition of a dangerous pesticide. If EPA fails to make a determination within 90 days, the pesticide will automatically be deemed a dangerous pesticide.

While it is unlikely this bill will move in this Congress, we must strongly oppose this bill now and use this time to educate lawmakers. Whether this bill comes back verbatim in the next Congress or several smaller bills are introduced representing certain aspects of this bill, or if we have a change in the Administration, will a Democratic controlled EPA set out to amend long standing FIFRA regulations? It is unclear how these attacks will come but it is certain that they will be coming. As an industry we need to be ready for an escalation of pesticide policy debates at the federal level in the next few years.

In September, NALP joined hundreds of national and state associations in supporting a letter that was sent to Congress in opposition of the anti-pesticide legislation. The green industry was very well represented on this letter with our partner groups representing the agriculture industry. Additionally, NALP began grassroots efforts to reinforce the message that this sort of drastic and misinformed anti-pesticide legislation is not acceptable.

The landscape industry, as part of the green industry, will need to work together in the coming months and years to educate new legislators and regulators at the federal level about what the landscape industry does to improve our environment and enrich the lives of our fellow citizens through healthy green spaces. We will also need to explain the professionalism of our industry and how we responsibly use EPA approved products while defending and preserving the FIFRA process.

Editor’s note: This article was written on Oct. 5, 2020. You can contact Bray at andrew@landscapeprofessionals.org for the most current information.

Mike Bogan admits he’s a creature of habit and enjoys his routine. Even when he’s on the road, he tries to keep things static. “I try to wake up, exercise and eat the same at the same times,” says the CEO of LandCare, which ranks 10th on Lawn & Landscape’s 2020 Top 100 list.

But that may not have always been the case, especially as a father raising young kids with his wife Rebecca, a landscape architect. “Our kids are grown and on their own, so life has evolved in the last five years and is very different than it looked as we raised our family,” the San Diego resident says. Here’s Bogan’s average day.

I wake up at 5 a.m. I’m happiest when I have 8 hours of sleep, so I try to in bed by 9 p.m.

For the first several months of COVID-19, I immediately checked my phone – which is a direct contradiction to the way I want to start my day. Living on the West Coast, areas of the company have already been at it for a few hours, so news about people’s safety was available and important to me.

Now, I am back to my preferred habit, which is to hold off on external information until 7 a.m. So, I start my day with 10-15 minutes of stretching, during which I try to be grateful for the blessings I have in life to start my mind in a positive place. I exercise from 5:30 to 6:30, alternating running with weight training.

I live near the beach, so when the tides are right, I’ll do 6 miles along the Torrey Pines shoreline. This gives me a connection with nature, a chance to watch the sunrise and often fellowship with a friend. Other days, its CrossFit with a group I joined a few years ago.

Then, I return home, fix my breakfast and pack my lunch for the day and read the news while I eat and have coffee. Usually, it’s toast with avocado and egg whites or tortillas, egg whites and Soyrizo.

I’m on my way to the office at 7:30. I only have an 8-10-minute drive to the office, so I usually ride in silence while I think about the day’s priorities.

I’m in at 7:45 and I’ll greet my team members while I make a cup of coffee, then take 10-15 minutes to organize my objectives for the day – usually with a “to do” list – before opening my computer and checking email.

Including calls and video chats, I have between three and six meetings – sometimes more. Most of my day is interacting with others, not working independently.

When others are working at the office (pre-COVID-19) we eat together at noon. Most of us bring our lunch. For me, it’s usually leftovers from the night before. My wife is an amazing cook and prepares most of our dinners, so it’s always something healthy and tasty.

Post-lunch, I’m responding to email and other inbound requests. I know the east half of the company is wrapping up soon, so I try to get back on issues for those who are on eastern time.

I usually work until about 6:30. I really like the last hours of the day. The office gets quiet, there are no interruptions and I can be very focused on my objectives.

I try to stop looking at work-related items when I leave the office. Unless there is a current crisis, I attempt to keep work between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

On weekends, I’ll often put in a couple of hours from home on Saturday and Sunday, but there are plenty of days when I don’t. I try not to email people as I know it interrupts their weekend, so I’ll cue mail up to send on Monday morning.

I also listen to a lot of podcasts while I do chores or exercise on the weekend, which can be professionally enriching, and I’ll be anxious to put those ideas into action the next week. My top three are Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner, This American Life by Ira Glass and Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell.

It’s been a crazy year to say the least. Not only was the industry hampered by another low-snow, low-event winter, but just past the mid-winter point, we experienced the onslaught of a global pandemic that impacted every business in our economy.

As commercial and retail businesses furloughed workers and closed offices and manufacturing plants, many of you were concerned that, even if it did begin snowing again, would your services be needed? Or worse, would your clients have the means to continue paying for services? The implications of an economic and financial domino effect were appalling.

While it’s fair to say no one was left unscathed by COVID-19’s impact, the 2020 State of the Industry data seems to indicate that the industry did persevere, and snow and ice management contractors – perhaps through a combination of thoughtful preplanning and good luck – managed to keep their heads above water and make it through to more solid footing this past spring.

Here are some of the highlights from this year’s report. According to the research data, more than a third of snow pros reported an increase in their gross revenues last winter over the previous season, and on average, contractors saw around $1.5 million to $1.7 million in gross revenues generated primarily from commercial contracts (62% of the overall average portfolio). Profit margins last winter hovered around the 50% mark for snow plowing (41% profit margin) and ice mitigation/management (47 percent).The following pages go into further detail on Winter 2019-20’s impact on the average contractors’ snow and ice management operations. And keep an eye out for additional in-depth reporting on the State of the Industry data findings in upcoming editions of the Snow Magazine Enewsletter.

Father Time. It’s undefeated.

Second by second, our weeks, months and 2020 as a whole (thank goodness, right?) is coming closer to an end.

But that’s why time management is so important. Whether you run your own company or are an entry-level employee, how you use your time can give you a big advantage in being successful against the competition.

We hope you take a few of those minutes to check out a new back page feature we’re introducing called “On an Average Day.” Each month, we’ll feature a company owner or executive taking us through, you guessed it, what their average day looks like.

“As we talk to these leaders about their average day, I’m hoping you can pull out a lesson or two about better managing your time.”

Kicking off the new feature is Mike Bogan, CEO of Landcare – a $186-million company with more than 3,000 employees. I wanted Mike to launch the feature because the idea stemmed from a conversation I had with him during a bus ride at our Top 100 event last year.

Somehow, we got to talking about his morning routine and he said he wakes up at 5 a.m. but doesn’t check his phone until 7 a.m. I was amazed by that. Not to mention he’s on the West Coast, so most of the country is working by then. But the two hours to get his mind right daily makes him more effective.

I use my phone as my alarm clock, and check my mail within 10 minutes of waking up. It’s a habit I’m trying to break, and it could be as simple as buying an alarm clock and leaving my phone on the other side of the room.

As we talk to these leaders about their average day, I’m hoping you can pull out a lesson or two about better managing your time or learning a process to make your company more efficient.

Everyone has different life circumstances – even Mike admits his day looked a lot different while he and his wife raised their family. But what we all have in common are those 24 hours in each day. I know you will be able to learn a better way to organize your day with every new profile we write. – Brian Horn