AIPH Secretary General, Tim Briercliffe, said, “Globalisation has had a major impact on the ornamental horticulture industry. We have seen the traditional markets for flowers and plants slow down while at the same time production and consumption of flowers and plants in developing countries has increased rapidly both to export to developed countries and to meet the growing demands of their own national markets. It seems that the power-base for the production and market for ornamentals is changing. This brings with it challenges and opportunities for growers and the whole supply chain. This project has been developed to understand these challenges, forecast future changes in the structure of the industry and to identify opportunities to grow the overall market.”

Chairman of the project Steering Group and AIPH President, Bernard Oosterom, added, “AIPH is uniquely positioned to facilitate the collation and analysis of industry data, information (quantitative and qualitative) and have the experience through our international network of grower associations around the globe. We invite all those with an interest in this work, wherever they are in the world and whether they have any links to AIPH or not, to become a part of the network being developed to identify this vision.”

The project is funded by the former Dutch Product Board. Information and data collection commenced with facilitated discussion sessions both at the AIPH Annual Congress in 2015 and during IPM Essen in January 2016. This will continue during the AIPH Spring Meeting in Vancouver, Canada on 15 March 2016.

Organisations participating commit to sharing what they know and learning from each other as together they shape the vision for the future. Following research the project has identified a Top 10 list of countries which will be studied in more depth. These countries have been identified as those likely to present the biggest opportunities for the industry in the coming years.

For more information, visit:www.aiph.org