TY - JOUR
T1 - The national initiative for consumer horticulture
T2 - Focusing on the critical role of communication and collaboration to further research, extension, and industry goals
AU - Dorn, Sheri
AU - Bradley, Lucy
AU - Hamrick, Debbie
AU - Weisenhorn, Julie
AU - Bennett, Pam
AU - Callabro, Jill
AU - Behe, Bridget
AU - Bauske, Ellen
AU - Bumgarner, Natalie
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, American Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/8
Y1 - 2018/8
N2 - The National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) is a diverse consortium of leaders who provide a unified voice for promoting the benefits and value of consumer horticulture (CH). NICH endeavors to unite national research efforts with the goals of the diverse stakeholders in the industry, the public sector, and the gardening public in an effort to advance knowledge and increase benefits and application of horticulture for cultivating a healthy world through landscapes, gardens, and plants, and an improved quality of life. Benefits of CH are broadly applicable, whether economic, environmental, or community-and health-related. A benefits approach to marketing sets the stage for unprecedented collaboration, such as that demonstrated by NICH. NICH members have developed three broad goals: recognizing CH as a driver of the agricultural economy; highlighting that CH restores, protects, and conserves natural resources through research and education; and cultivating healthy, connected, and engaged communities through CH. Three NICH committees (Economic, Environmental, and Community andHealth Benefits) have focused their efforts onNICH goals for the past 10 months. The three committee chairs, representing ≈30 committeemembers, presented the results of their efforts and future directions for their committees. The Economic and Environmental committees have proceeded with campaigns to better market CH by promoting the benefits of plants and to increase environmental benefits by changing consumer behavior. After reviewing current research, the Community andHealth Benefits Committee suggested that a gap exists in research related to specific benefits ofCHand personal gardening (as opposed to benefits accrued by enjoying forests, horticulture therapy, indoor atriums, community gardens, parks, and other public places). The committee suggested that overcoming this gap requires strategic collaboration of skill and expertise from a more diverse group of industry representatives, specialists, and scientists. This approach has tremendous potential to affect the CH marketplace, especially when drawing multiple sources of value from the products and experiences.
AB - The National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) is a diverse consortium of leaders who provide a unified voice for promoting the benefits and value of consumer horticulture (CH). NICH endeavors to unite national research efforts with the goals of the diverse stakeholders in the industry, the public sector, and the gardening public in an effort to advance knowledge and increase benefits and application of horticulture for cultivating a healthy world through landscapes, gardens, and plants, and an improved quality of life. Benefits of CH are broadly applicable, whether economic, environmental, or community-and health-related. A benefits approach to marketing sets the stage for unprecedented collaboration, such as that demonstrated by NICH. NICH members have developed three broad goals: recognizing CH as a driver of the agricultural economy; highlighting that CH restores, protects, and conserves natural resources through research and education; and cultivating healthy, connected, and engaged communities through CH. Three NICH committees (Economic, Environmental, and Community andHealth Benefits) have focused their efforts onNICH goals for the past 10 months. The three committee chairs, representing ≈30 committeemembers, presented the results of their efforts and future directions for their committees. The Economic and Environmental committees have proceeded with campaigns to better market CH by promoting the benefits of plants and to increase environmental benefits by changing consumer behavior. After reviewing current research, the Community andHealth Benefits Committee suggested that a gap exists in research related to specific benefits ofCHand personal gardening (as opposed to benefits accrued by enjoying forests, horticulture therapy, indoor atriums, community gardens, parks, and other public places). The committee suggested that overcoming this gap requires strategic collaboration of skill and expertise from a more diverse group of industry representatives, specialists, and scientists. This approach has tremendous potential to affect the CH marketplace, especially when drawing multiple sources of value from the products and experiences.
KW - Community
KW - Gardening
KW - Health
KW - Interdisciplinary studies
KW - People-plant interaction
KW - Research trends
KW - Well-being
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85053702075&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85053702075&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.21273/HORTTECH04013-18
DO - 10.21273/HORTTECH04013-18
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85053702075
VL - 28
SP - 414
EP - 421
JO - HortTechnology
JF - HortTechnology
SN - 1063-0198
IS - 4
ER -