March 1, 2017
COPF announces plans to dissolve
The Canadian Ornamental Plant Foundation (COPF) has announced plans to phase out its royalty administration and monitoring services by March 31, 2018.
“The closure of COPF is a reflection of new industry realities including the offshore propagation of herbaceous plants, direct licensing by breeder companies, new germplasm being introduced and monitored by large branded cultivar collections and a steady decline in the number of plant propagators and growers as consolidation takes place at many levels in the nursery industry,” COPF said in a statement. “COPF is presently in a strong financial position as a result of strategic cost cutting and an increase in the royalty administration rate. We wish to phase out our activities in a manner that ensures that all commitments to breeders and growers will be met and that royalty administration and monitoring can be carefully transferred to other industry participants.”