New venture will lead to industry change

Published February 20, 2012

Todd Davis

In January the American Nursery and Landscape Association and OFA (the Association of Horticultural Professionals) announced a new joint venture.

This venture is the first step toward a formal merger of the two groups, one consisting of mainly nursery growers, the other mainly greenhouse growers. For now, the associations will be combining efforts in education, national lobbying and other member benefits. But you can bet, after a few years of shacking up, the two groups will do the right thing and tie the knot all legit like.

But first things first, we need to come up with a name for this new association if and when it does merge. As longtime advocate and self-appointed spokesperson for both these fine organizations, I recommend the following:

Association of Coordinated Horticultural Owners and Operators (ACHOO).
Society of Plantsmen, Landscapers and Tradesmen (SPLAT).
Floriculture and National Nursery Industry Experts (FANNIE).

What does it mean?
In all seriousness, whether the merger ever takes place or not, this will lead to change. For reasons that have always astounded me, nursery and floriculture folks in this nation have rarely crossed paths. And what they do is remarkably similar, and morphing into each other more all the time. Nurseries are growing more color, greenhouses are growing more woodies.

About seven years ago, ANLA was having merger talks with PLANET, Professional Landscape Network. I stood up and addressed a group of maybe 300 ANLA members and asked, “Rather than merging with a landscape group, shouldn’t we be looking at merging with OFA, whose members are a lot more similar to us? We both grow plants that people plant in their yards.”

Nobody had a good answer. It had just never been considered before.

Stronger, better
But you can count on it happening now, and we’ll be better for it. Both groups host great educational events. When you start getting both nursery and greenhouse folks together at these events, exchanging ideas and thoughts, we’re all going to benefit.

When we approach legislators on Capitol Hill as a more united group, then we have a stronger voice. From a lobbying standpoint, when nursery and greenhouse growers stand together, we will be a force Washington, D.C., will have to listen to.

As proud members of FANNIE, we will stand for nothing less.