Jul 23, 2010
Sakata Gains NAKT CertificationSource: Sakata

Sakata Ornamentals recently earned the Naktuinbouw Elite certification (NAKT) from the Netherlands Inspection Service for Horticulture, a stringent certification process for ornamental crop maintenance and propagation of elite mother stock.

Sakata is the first North American company to earn this distinction and found the application process to be a natural step after consolidating its global cutting operations at its Salinas, Calif., location. “We felt it was important for our customers to know that our facilities and program meet the highest standards in the horticultural industry,” said Randy Holbert, the elite program manager.

“Our facilities and cultural practices were more or less already in compliance with certification requirements,” he said, “but we worked for more than a year to align our processes and procedures to meet NAKT standards.”

Naktuinbouw, an independent organization regulated by the Ministry of Agriculture in the Netherlands, promotes and monitors the quality of products and the processes and chains in horticulture, focusing particularly on propagation materials, both nationally and internationally.

For more information on Sakata, visit www.sakata.com.