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Scotland's Native Trees and Shrubs
Quality assurance
It is recognised that traceability and provenance related issues are making new demands on the nursery industry, an industry that has little experience in operating formal quality management systems. Formally accredited or otherwise, effective quality management systems will increasingly become a client requirement. If the industry is to produce what a client requires they need to work together. Both parties could learn much from the approach developed by the major supermarket sector in relation to purchasing horticultural and locally manufactured products. Supermarkets buy the majority of their produce from closely monitored and approved firms with formal quality assurance accreditation. They also buy local produce akin to native trees of local provenance, such as cheese or strawberries, from small firms that have no formal quality assurance accreditation. Supermarket staff work closely with the small local firms to ensure that together they develop and operate a quality management system that is not unduly bureaucratic and is acceptable to both parties.
It is vital that all sectors of the industry involved in producing, supplying and planting native species are aware of our requirements in relation to quality assurance. With this in mind the appendices include a list of questions tabled at an audit to verify the provenance credentials of stock supplied for use on a road scheme. The aim of the audit was to establish the trail from seed source through the production process to the delivery of plants to the construction site.
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