The National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture – A Strategic Plan

Despite the existence of many effective local, state and regional consumer horticulture programs no national organization or vision links efforts across the United States.  As a result there has been limited success in securing federal funding and national sponsors. With representatives from universities, public gardens, nurseries, garden related businesses, federal government and gardeners, the National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) has been created to develop a national strategic plan for Consumer Horticulture. Facilitated by the United States Department of Agriculture National Program Leader for Horticulture, a twelve member Steering Committee drafted a mission, vision, core values, goals, and objectives for the initiative.  A national workshop was then hosted to solicit wider input in developing specific strategies to achieve each objective and to examine various options for structure and leadership.  The recommendations from workshop participants were synthesized and then distributed via the NICH website and listserv as a survey for all interested parties to participate in selecting the components that best represented their interests. Next steps include finalizing the strategic plan, selecting an organizational structure, and selecting leadership.