Roadmap of Research Priorities for the Green Industry

by Anthony V. LeBude, Ph.D., NC State
Jim S. Owen, Virginia Tech
Jill Calabro, AmericanHort/HRI
Jennifer Gray, AmericanHort

Highlights from a two-day stakeholder workshop held in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Environmental horticulture, or the green industry, is an integral component of specialty crops and agriculture as a whole. In fact, our industry generates one third of all specialty crop revenue (over 19 billion each year!) and its workforce. Yet, our industry received only 12 percent of federal funds earmarked for specialty crops from USDA Agricultural Research Service and USDA’s Specialty Crop Research Initiative in the past five years. The Horticultural Research Institute (HRI) recognized this disparity and began a mission to bring federal funding awards more in line with environmental horticulture’s economic impact.

HRI realized that the industry lacked a unified, strategic roadmap of research priorities to better leverage federal funds. With this new mandate, HRI set to work. The result was a professionally moderated, two-day stakeholder workshop, where attendees shared their collective understanding of current and future industry challenges, trends, and opportunities. Through this consensus effort, HRI identified research priorities to address challenges, capitalize on future trends and opportunities, better direct research investments, and steer federal funds toward removing barriers to increasing sustainability.

About 45 delegates representing all segments of environmental horticulture and regions of the country gathered for a face-to-face summit to listen, learn, and share their insights with each other. Participants were encouraged to advocate for their peers by first engaging in conversations with them in advance of the meeting to widen their perspectives. During the summit, the moderator led the group through a series of discussions that culminated in a consensus on four key research priorities.

Participants of the stakeholder workshop held by HRI and NCSU.

Quantifying Plant Benefits

Research that quantifies and validates the benefits of plants on ecosystems, human health, and society can be used to craft better value propositions for consumers. Ultimately, this will boost industry sales and services and increase interest in industry careers.

Our industry and society benefits when individuals understand how plants contribute to both their health and well-being and their ecosystems in which they live. New research regarding plant benefits need to be aligned with industry priorities to maintain environmental horticulture at the forefront of providing sustainable green solutions for the world.

Creating Innovative Solutions

Research that develops or adapts biological, mechanical, and technological systems make practices and processes more efficient and productive for horticultural businesses of all segments and sizes. Ultimately, this will introduce new plants into commerce, increase efficiencies, reduce labor, and improve sustainability.

Our industry continually needs improved systems to produce new or improved crops with less labor, water, nutrients, time, and pesticides in a safe work environment while adding value to quality plants that thrive during shipping, marketing, and consumer use. Whether in the supply chain, current inventory, or on the road to end-users, crops and inputs need to be traced, evaluated, ordered, managed and/or improved upon to continually provide cost effective solutions for producers to integrate into existing production practices. This would include (but not be limited to) advances in plant breeding, crop production and protection, software, automation, mechanization, and logistics. Recognizing and addressing barriers to adoption will be crucial.

Gathering Consumer Insights

Research that evaluates consumer behavior, preferences, and trends empowers horticultural businesses to optimize products and services. Ultimately, this will lead to industry-wide profitability and growth.

Consumers are responsible for the health and sustainability of our industry. Therefore, producers need to understand generational shifts in consumer demographics, as well as how those shifts affect consumer purchasing behaviors. Examples include emerging market preferences, relative purchasing power, and general gardening confidence. Markets, consumers, and the products they desire interact and change over time. To adapt, industry producers need information that synthesizes all this, yet is easily understandable and crafted for various segments of the industry. Research on consumer preference, motivation, purchasing behavior, and perception of our industry’s products and services will help producers develop better business strategies that fulfill consumer desires.

Producing Practical and Actionable Solutions

Research that addresses ongoing and emergent industry challenges in production, resource management, and pest and disease management, provides practical and actionable advice for horticultural businesses to improve sustainability and profitability.  Disruptive, ongoing, emergent issues that challenge short-term profitability and success of environmental horticulture will continue to rise. Therefore, providing solutions to these challenges must remain a research priority for funding agencies.

The AmericanHort Mission is to unite, promote, and advance our industry through advocacy, collaboration, connectivity, education, market development, and research. HRI, the research foundation of AmericanHort, supports scientific research and students for the advancement of the environmental horticulture industry. HRI was established by industry leaders on the premise that no one could better direct needed research to advance environmental horticulture than the very people who work in it. They adhere to that same vision today:  to fund and guide environmental horticulture research efforts with direct input from industry professionals. It is the strong foundation upon which to build the industry. Since 1962, HRI has provided more than $7.5 million in funds to research projects covering a broad range of production, environmental, and business issues important to the green industry.

Moving forward, HRI has adopted these four research priorities and will use them to guide future HRI funding and leveraging decisions.