The shipping season was immediately threatened by government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but quick thinking by nursery growers found a solution to move products and keep their products on the road. Our three-part story features conversations with shipping managers and transportation brokers about the overnight shift in many nursery loading docks’ policies and procedures. Also in this issue, Jennifer Parke shares the similarities between managing plant and human pathogens. In the Meet the Leader profile, Jesse Nelson of Hans Nelson & Sons Nursery Inc. talks about serving in leadership roles with the OAN board, his local soil and water conservation district, and even youth sports.

In this issue:

• Part 1: Plants on the move: Freight with uncertainty: COVID-19 threw nursery shipping for a loop, but things settled and stayed strong.
• Part 2: Plants on the move: Making room for safety: On nursery loading docks, COVID-19 changed everything.
• Part 3: Plants on the move: An oasis for the road: Nurseries provide hospitality for drivers cut off from some basic amenities and their usual resources.
• Meet the leader: Jesse Nelson: The general manager at Hans Nelson & Sons Nursery Inc. serves in leadership roles with the OAN board, his local soil and water conservation district, and even youth sports.

Columns:

• What a long, strange run it’s been: President’s Message by Jim Simnitt
• Strength and wisdom: Director’s Desk by Jeff Stone

Growing Knowledge an ongoing series provided by Oregon State University in collaboration with the USDA and in partnership with OAN.

• Managing epidemics: Whether one is dealing with plant pathogens or COVID-19, certain universal principles for preventing transmission still apply.

Please send your comments on the issue to editor Curt Kipp at [email protected].