The advantages of achieving Clean Plants certified status will vary for each nursery depending company location and the scope of the business.  Advantages include:

• Having phytosanitary systems in place on the nursery will help protect the operation from foreign invasive species and all sorts of pests.
• Certification will provide the certified company with significant evidence that they have exercised due diligence in preventing the movement of quarantine and regulated pests.
• Implementation of a certification system will result in a functioning trace-back and trace-forward system, which will be critical in the event a quarantine or regulated pest is discovered in your area or at your place of business.
• The Clean Plants designation will provide companies with a distinct marketing advantage over their non-certified competition. If and when a regulated or quarantine pest is discovered in an area, nurseries that are Clean Plants certified have an advantage because their surveillance system is in place.  If CFIA would require a certification process to be in place in order to ship product in this instance, Clean Plants nurseries would be able to adjust to the new requirements very quickly when added to the existing framework of the Clean Plants program.