Two weeks shy of Election Day, bulb grower Leo Roozen, AAF, gave the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee a firsthand look at the challenges of running a flower-growing operation. On Oct. 23, Roozen hosted Reps. Collin Peterson (D-7-Minn.) and Rick Larsen (D-2-Wash.) on a tour of Washington Bulb Company in Mt. Vernon, Wash.

"The opportunity to host an elected official is rare," says Roozen, who says elected officials need to visit businesses and see how they are run. "It gives them the opportunity to go back to their colleagues and say 'I have been there, I have seen this' ... it certainly increases their knowledge of what is going on in the real world," he says.

Prior to the tour, Roozen attended a fundraising lunch for Larsen, during which Larsen and Peterson spoke about, among other legislative topics, the importance of specialty crops, like floral products, to the agricultural economy.