Certification for Growers

Certification Programs for Growers in Canada

Phytosanitary certification programs provide nursery growers with an excellent tool to reduce the risk of incurring or spreading invasive and other harmful pests, both at your place of production and into the urban and natural environments.  Certification status, as provided by CNCI, provides your clients with a high degree of confidence that your company is engaged in sound best management practices to reduce this risk. 

CNCI offers several voluntary certification programs to assist the grower industry to design and implement phytosanitary best management practices at their place of business.

Clean Plants Program 

The Clean Plants program utilizes an ISO-like systems approach to achieve nursery certification. As the name suggests, it is the objective of Clean Plants to produce plants that meet high phytosanitary standards that are completely free of all regulated pests and substantially free from all other insects and diseases.

C. buxicola Certification Program

As it was determined by CFIA and USDA-APHIS that boxwood blight would not be a regulated pest, a best management practices and certification program was developed by CNLA to assist Canada’s nursery growers to manage this important pest.  The C. buxicola certification program was designed to allow participation in this pest-specific program only, before integrating into the full Clean Plants program.

P. ramorum Nursery Certification Program

Phytophthora ramorum, commonly known as Sudden Oak Death or SOD, was found in BC in 2003 and is a serious pest with potential for significant harm to the environment.  Its status as a non-regulated quarantine pest can result in plant destruction and/or business closure if found by CFIA.  To provide a high level of confidence to their clients in the rest of Canada, a best management practices and certification program was developed by BCLNA and CNLA with assistance from CFIA.  The P. ramorum program is no longer available as a stand-alone certification program and is incorporated into the Clean Plants program.  (Appendix 10).

Box Tree Moth Best Management Practices

A Box Tree Moth Certification Module is currently under development for Clean Plants.  However, it is extremely important for growers of boxwood to implement best management practices to protect their crops and to prevent this pest from infesting their crops.  Therefore here are the latest BMPs for Box Tree Moth which growers are encouraged to adopt. These BMPS do not currently meet any Clean Plants certification standards, and are simply provided to support industry management and control of this invasive pest.

Note that these BMPs continue to evolve as we learn more about the science of the pest and regulatory framework in both Canada and the USA.  Please check back regularly for any updates.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency also has available other inspection programs for export, as well as plant-specific programs for pests.  Following are the two main programs offered by CFIA.

Canadian Nursery Certification Program (CNCP)

For exporters of nursery stock, this program is administered and audited by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

Canadian Greenhouse Certification Program (CGCP)

For exporters of greenhouse plants, this program is administered and audited by the CFIA.
CFIA website here.