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Scotland's Native Trees and Shrubs
Is the appointment of a plant procurement agent the answer?
There is a trend developing for civil engineering main contractors to appoint growers as procurement agents for the supply of all trees and shrubs for a particular scheme. This they have done of their own volition, presumably driven by sound commercial judgement.
Co-ordinating delivery and purchase of a complicated plant schedule is a time consuming job best done by an experienced specialist. Managing this procurement from the site of a large civil engineering scheme inevitably results in plants being stored temporarily on site. A high percentage of plant failures can be traced back to this period of delivery, storage and delays. A professional grower with the responsibility and risk of managing the plant procurement from a nursery has the control and incentive to ensure risks of failure are reduced to the absolute minimum.
Perhaps clients should take note of the more progressive main contractors and encourage others to appoint a plant procurement agent? This open understanding would also help to reduce the apparent need to disguise the extent of brokering within the industry. It could encourage all growers, large or small, to grow what they grow best and not have to grow a wider range of stock than they would like. It could also provide the means to make more use of our natural sources of native seed and benefit rural communities. Small growers might be encouraged by a more buoyant and open market to collect and grow seed of native species that are produced in their particular locality.
It is important that a plant procurement agent understands the client's requirements.
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