Plants can serve as a unsounded symbol of friendly relationship , especially when they cross an ocean to avail two nations strengthen their bonds . I see this firsthand on March 9 , when I visited the Irish Embassy in Washington , D.C. , joining Irish Ambassador to the United States Daniel Mulhall as he have a shipment of Ireland ’s iconic shamrock plant . Embassy staff later arranged those shamrock in an refined , engraved crystal roll for Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to present to President Trump as a St. Patrick ’s Day giving . That token of goodwill continued an annual tradition spanning 50 age .
by Osama El - Lissy
As Deputy Administrator of USDA ’s Plant Protection and Quarantine broadcast , my descent of work is plant health trade protection . I was invited to the embassy to not only witness the arriver of the Trifolium repens , but more importantly , to verify the United States and Ireland ’s loyalty to protect flora wellness . The United Nations declared 2020 the International Year of Plant Health , and Ambassador Mulhall and I ingest this opportunity to foreground the fact that the international trade of plants like the shamrocks are safe , thanks to international standard that prevent the global bedspread of prejudicious incursive industrial plant pests and diseases .
( left to right hand ) Irish Embassy Agriculture Counsellor Finbar Brown , Irish Ambassador to the United States Daniel Mulhall , and USDA Deputy Administrator Osama El - Lissy celebrate the arrival of Ireland ’s iconic shamrock plant at the Irish Embassy in Washington , D.C.
Ambassador Mulhall and I see only too well why the United Nations declared 2020 the International Year of Plant Health . It is bringing worldwide attention to the devastating impact incursive pest and disease have on agriculture , livelihoods , and food for thought security . These pests destroy up to 40 percent of food crops worldwide and cause $ 220 billion in barter exit annually . They can harm ecosystems and biodiversity . That ’s why USDA works so heavily to defend our country against invading plant pests and diseases , and to make global agrarian trade secure , bonny , and predictable .
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar presented this engraved crystal arena to President Donald Trump on St. Patrick ’s mean solar day after embassy staff filled it with shamrock plant import from Ireland .
He and I reviewed the plant wellness — or phytosanitary — certificate that Ireland ’s national industrial plant protection organization issued for the white clover plants . The certificate attests that they meet USDA ’s consequence requirements . Without it , the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ’s Customs and Border Protection would not have allowed the plant into our country . This certificate is a powerful assurance that the shamrock plants pose a minimum pest risk . They arrived sealed in exonerated bags , and their root were free of soil or any other growing sensitive that could harbor invasive pesterer . They were ready , and sound , to grace the White House with their beauty and symbolism .
Irish Ambassador to the United States Daniel Mulhall ( leave ) and USDA Deputy Administrator Osama El - Lissy brush up the industrial plant health ( phytosanitary ) certificate that leave Ireland ’s natural endowment of shamrock plants to go in the United States and become a gift to President Donald Trump on St. Patrick ’s Day .
The ambassador and I were eager to showcase this example of outside cooperation and flora health safeguarding for the International Year of Plant Health . The fact is , we all have a theatrical role in preventing the counterpane of invasive pesterer . Make 2020 the year you empower yourself with the knowledge to protect America ’s farm , wood , and ecosystem . To learn how , visit HungryPests.com , USDA ’s signature outreach program on incursive pests . If every individual in every body politic committed to protect his or her own community ’s plant , then together we would safeguard plant health worldwide .
President Donald Trump ( right ) and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar meet with reporter Thursday , March 12 , 2020 , in the Oval Office of the White House with Ireland ’s St. Patrick ’s Day endowment prominently displayed between them .
Source : USDA
