The NICH Team

Download this slide presentation on how to help grow the industry.

Thank you for your interest in NICH, the National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture. We are a grassroots movement for everyone in the field of horticulture –university researchers and government extension agents, nonprofits, and all aspects of the industry from retail garden centers through landscape, tree care, and beyond.
NICH has a big vision – to grow the practice of gardening, both indoors and out, by 20% by 2025.

“So what’s in it for me?” you ask.

The Answer: There is a tremendous amount we all can gain by focusing one unified voice on growing our industry.
First of all, the more that people garden and respect the value of horticulture, the more plants, products and services will be sought and bought. Business revenue will increase. More people will support garden centers, university research, extension outreach, public gardens and the horticultural services industries. This directly translates into job growth and increased job security.
There is much more. When we collectively communicate the importance of consumer horticulture for healthy communities and a thriving economy, we positively impact decision makers and stakeholders alike. Our collaboration pays back across all sectors of the industry with more knowledgeable and engaged customers who put a higher value on plants and the services we provide.
The more people appreciate gardening and the benefits of plants, the healthier we will be as individuals, communities and the whole country.
This is why we are asking you to support NICH.

What Can I Do to Help?

• Join our unified effort and strength to our numbers when we reach out to stakeholders
• Sign up for our emails to stay informed and give us your advice, feedback and input
• Spread the message and tell 10 friends
• Get Involved with a committee
• Recommend NICH to someone who should be involved

Join us today!

The National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture Inaugural Leadership Team

• Chair: D. Casey Sclar, Executive Director, American Public Gardens Association
• Vice chairs: Ellen Bauske, Program Coordinator, Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture; Tom Underwood, Executive Director, Birmingham Botanical Garden
• Secretary/Treasurer: Gail Langellotto, Associate Professor/Statewide Master Gardener Coordinator, Oregon State University
• Marketing: Susan McCoy, Garden Media Group

Thursday, August 24, 2017
Media contact: Mary Kay Woodworth mkw@georgiauac.com
WASHINGTON, D.C.  August 24, 2017 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced 12 new grants totaling $35 million for science-based solutions and new technology for the specialty crop industry. Funding is made through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.
Of those 12 new grants, the National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) received a planning grant for $47,470 to help develop strategies, tactics and priorities to stimulate consumer horticulture in the U.S.
The industry-wide grassroots movement plans to grow the practice of gardening, both indoors and out, by 20% by 2025.
The grant was co-authored by Dr. Ellen Bauske, senior public service associate, Department of Plant Pathology/Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture, and Dr. Gail Langellotto, associate professor and extension specialist in the Department of Horticulture at Oregon State University.
“By creating one, cohesive voice, NICH will raise awareness of consumer horticulture and help those in all segments of horticulture be more successful in leveraging public funding to help stimulate the entire industry,” says Dr. Bauske.
Currently there are five legislatively mandated SCRI programs, including pollinator protection, focused on production of ornamental, nursery and food crops. However, there are no legislatively mandated programs that specifically support end-use consumer horticulture.
NICH wants to change that.
According to Dr. Langellotto, NICH plans to echo and capitalize on the success of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance. The alliance is a national coalition of more than 120 organizations representing growers of fresh fruits and vegetables, dried fruit, tree nuts, nursery plants and other products.
“The Farm Bill Alliance was organized in advance of the 2007 Farm Bill to ensure that Congress heard the message, loud and clear, that specialty crops were important and that federal funds were needed for research and extension in specialty crops,” says Dr. Langellotto. “NICH aims to do the same.”
NICH’s vision is to increase consumer horticulture by 20% in 2015 by cultivating a passion and deeper appreciation for plants in our daily lives and increase a universal demand for gardening from research and extension grants at universities to attendance at public gardens and foot traffic in garden centers.
“This is a major step to move NICH closer to its goal of increasing all aspects of horticulture and get 90 percent of U.S. households gardening by 2025,” says Dr. Casey Sclar, Inaugural Chair of NICH and executive director of the American Public Gardens Association.
SCRI grants address critical needs of the specialty crop industry, providing support that propels research and extension work addressing key challenges of national, regional and multi-state importance. Dr. Sclar said the challenge for the horticulture industry is to change perceptions about the value of consumer horticulture. “We are working now to educate consumers and decision makers on the social, economic and environmental benefits of consumer horticulture.
“As a matter of fact, preliminary research estimates our sector contributes $196 billion to the U.S. economy and creates more than 2 million jobs annually,” Dr. Sclar explained. “We plan to further define this contribution in terms of wellness and environmental benefits.” This infographic shows how plants contribute to the economy.
NICH is a consortium of industry leaders who are creating a unified voice to promote the benefits and value of horticulture. NICH brings together academia, government, industry and nonprofits to cultivate the growth and development of a healthy world through landscapes, gardens and plants – indoors and out.
For more information and to join the cause, visit NICH at consumerhort.org.

National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH)

NICH functions with four (4) Officers, rend seven (7) active Committees or Councils. Each Committee/Council has an appointed Chair, who can invite as many working members and/or Vice/Co-Chairs as they deem necessary to accomplish the goals of their committee or council.

Terms of Service:

• Committee/Council Members: At least one (1) year of service is requested. Generally, monthly
  calls/meetings are held by committee members. These assignments do not typically exceed 1-3 hours per month of service.
• Committee/Council Chairs: A two (2) year term of service is requested, preferably with at least one year of service in the Committee/Council being Chaired
• Officers: A two (2) year term of service is requested, preferably with at least one term of service in the Committee/Council Chair or previous officer role

Expectations/Measures of Success:

NICH is a broad coalition representing the entirety of consumer horticulture. At its core are the mission, vision, and values represented in its strategic plan. Driving the initiative are the people dedicated to its success and achieving it through their volunteer service.

All involved will represent the Core Values of NICH by demonstrating through their service:

•  Diversity and Inclusion – all potential members are welcomed and valued as all individuals can make a difference
  •  The organization will contain broad representation combined with a dedication to consider multiple viewpoints
  •  NICH is inclusive and welcoming; as many as possible may be brought under the greater initiative umbrella
•  Service – all officers, committee/council chairs and committee/council members serve for the common good
  •  Able to set aside their own individual biases and consider the “needs of the many”
  •  Those engaged possess volunteer spirit and a ready willingness to provide their unique expertise
•  Research, Education and Extension/Engagement – all members understand the importance of researching and relying upon fact-based, scientific research whenever gathering and/or reporting information
  •  Members will investigate all sides of a goal, objective, or tactic – including how best to educate others and disseminate/adopt the final results/products
•  Environmental, Social and Economic Focus – NICH Committees/Councils address all aspects of sustainability
  •  NICH Committees/Councils orient their work to goal areas
  •  NICH Committees/Councils cooperate to minimize duplication of effort and synergize work and outcomes wherever possible
•  Environmental, Social and Economic Focus – NICH Committees/Councils address all aspects of sustainability
  •  NICH Committees/Councils orient their work naturally to these goal areas
  •  NICH Committees/Councils work together cooperate to minimize duplication of effort, synergize their work together and collaborate on outcomes wherever possible
•  Innovation and Creativity – NICH Committees/Councils and volunteers seek to address and solve real world challenges
  •  NICH Committees/Councils consider “new ways” of addressing “old problems” and are rarely satisfied with “we’ve always done it this way”
•  Accountability – NICH Committees/Councils and volunteers demonstrate the ownership necessary to achieve desired results for the initiative
  •  Committee Chairs and Council Leaders are repeatedly willing to “step up” and perform, and not just recommend the work needed to further initiative
•  Relevant – NICH Committees/Councils respond to the needs of (and actively communicate with) our clientele and the sectors we represent
  •  Members are part of a resilient community that seeks to ever expand the that seeks to expand the awareness and reach of the initiative as it grows and evolves

NICH Officers have the following roles and measures of success:

• Address and achieve legal status for NICH (e.g. become non-profit or form groups that allow continuance of mission, vision, and values for all)
• Ensure information flow within/throughout the organization and to outside interested parties. (Press releases, talking points, use of listserv, website, sharing and archiving working documents (online Box system, etc.))
• Initiate and coordinate National meetings either online or in person.
• Initiate and coordinate Bi-Weekly Executive Committee conference calls
• Maintain high-level calendar of key deadlines and communicate expectations
  for meeting them to stakeholders
• Form teams (Councils, Committees, Task Forces) needed to achieve NICH goals
• 2017 Goals:
  • Develop a draft business plan
  • Receive/pursue funding through grants to sustain NICH efforts

Council and Committee Chairs have the following collective measures of success:

• Recruit and retain at least 8 or more (preferably many more in the case ofCouncils) members of their Committee/Council that are committed and actively working toward the objectives of the initiative
  • 2017 Goal For Committees: Fully staffed with active Vice-Chair named by mid-year
  • 2017 Goal For Councils: At least 15 members with active Vice-Chair named by mid-year
• Plans, schedules, and conducts conference calls/meetings on at least a monthly basis to perform work needed to further initiatives
  • 2017 Goal: All monthly meetings held and priorities accomplished
• Attend Bi-Weekly Executive Committee calls/meetings of Chairs and Officers
  • 2017 Goal: Chair or Designate attends at least 75% of bi-weekly calls
• Updates Executive Committee on work progress in a coordinated fashion, either
  through reports on bi-weekly Calls or more preferably, by written/shared documents
  • 2017 Goal: All Progress Reports Disseminated by email or posted to the Box site
• Performs work directly related to success of initiative
  • 2017 Goal: At least one objective or tactic from plan shows sufficient progress/completion

The following roles and responsibilities are more specific to the work of either Committees or Councils:

Committees (Social, Economic, and Environmental)

• Serve to identify, develop, revise, prioritize, and execute objectives articulated in strategic planning sessions and/business plans in order to further the initiative
• Work in concert with other committees and Chairs to minimize duplicative efforts as some objectives invariably cross goal areas
• Receive and employ feedback given by Councils in prioritizing their work
• Provide timely requests to Councils for specific actions such as letters of support,
  dissemination of information to stakeholders, etc.

Councils (Public/LGU, Industry, NGO)

• Assemble a broad group of stakeholders to represent all aspects and viewpoints of the horticulture sector they represent
• Hold listening and engagement sessions as needed to develop, prioritize, and propose emerging sector needs to Committees as well as respond to their requests
• Engage with all Committee Chairs as needed to ensure Council priorities help guide initiative objective

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*This document is available in its original format as a PDF.