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Trade associations serve a number of purposes. They help members buy products at discounted rates. They provide various educational opportunities. They put industry professionals in touch with their peers.
The best, and often the most valuable, associations also enable small businesses spread all over the country to speak with one loud voice where it often matters most – Washington, D.C., and anywhere else laws are made.
The lawn and landscape industry has struggled in the past to find its voice, but the Professional Lawn Care Association of America hopes it can change this while also uncovering new opportunities for its own growth via its recent personnel changes. On Jan. 1, PLCAA announced the hiring of Gary Clayton as its new executive director, a move that enabled Tom Delaney to return to his former role, vice president of government affairs.
Delaney held the top spot at PLCAA for the last four years, but he’s excited to focus on legislative issues at a time when he says legislative issues are becoming more local. “I don’t see any new federal issues that concern us right now,” he observed. “The key area to worry about is the states.”
In fact, Delaney said industry regulation is coming full circle. “My first title with PLCAA was director of state government affairs, and then we got pulled into federal lawn care hearings and spending time on the federal level,” he recalled. Today, new legislation tends to start at the local level.
And there are a number of key issues Delaney has his eyes on.
Water quality – “We have to watch what’s going to happen on water issues,” he emphasized. “Fertilizer runoff, non-point source pollution, quantity and quality of water is going to be something for us to watch.”
Fertilizer – “Several states are looking at fertilizer preemption since we don’t have federal legislation for it like we do with other pesticide products,” explained Delaney, noting that many states focused on fertilizers after the Minnesota ban on phosphorous went into place last year.
Neighorhood notification – “We’re going to have to watch for any mimicking of what was passed in New York.”
Pesticide restrictions – “I’m also concerned about what’s going on in Canada because we’ve got some U.S. environmentalists working up there,” Delaney noted. “So we’ll probably have to deal with the same issues of having aesthetic and cosmetic thrown in our face, which means we’ll have to do a better job of talking about the benefits of the services we provide ahead of time.”
Telemarketing – “We need to watch that to see how much further that issue will go since [legislators] are talking about a national do-not-call list.”
Overall, Delaney knows about the lawn care industry’s chief battle. “My primary concern is that the majority of our customers and potential customers want to have their lawns taken care of by a professional,” he maintained. “There could be some erosion in people’s interest in lawns and people could feel that they aren’t pro-environment if they hire a lawn care company.
But good warriors learn to avoid fights they can’t win. “There’s no way to reverse how the industry feels about pesticides,” Delaney suggested. “These products have their image, although we can buffer that somewhat. We need to concentrate on the value of a well-maintained landscape. Trying to make people think pesticides are good is too much of an uphill battle.”
The industry can win more battles by enrolling more soldiers from the ranks of lawn care professionals. “When legislation comes about, we’re able to go back and find the particular incident that caused that legislation,” he explained. “In New York, we can point to one particular application made to trees that drifted next door where there was a building with its windows open and a baby sleeping. That baby’s mother got so incensed that she worked on neighbor notification for years until we ended up where we’re at.
“So, one way lawn care companies can help is to train and be more self regulating so that their employees understand the scenarios they may encounter and they’re prepared to handle them,” he continued. “Then, we need to have a good network of industry people who are willing to go the extra mile to testify, track these issues and talk to regulatory people.”
PLCAA has gotten more people involved in legislative issues through its annual Day on the Hill event in Washington, D.C., and that event has spawned similar events in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Delaney would like to see more such state-oriented events developed in the coming years. “Too many legislators don’t know what the effect of this legislation might be on their constituents’ businesses, and we have to tell them,” he pointed out. “We need to make these elected officials aware of us and our businesses.”
The author is Editor/Publisher for Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at bwest@lawnandlandscape.com.