February 2022 - 6

INDUSTRY NEWS
NGB HELPS EDUCATE MILLIONS OF
CONSUMERS ON POINSETTIAS
National Garden Bureau (NGB) helped its
members spread holiday cheer, reaching
millions of home gardeners in December. The
organization and its members created a " Tips
for Making Your Poinsettia Shine Through the
Season and Beyond " campaign to inspire and
educate consumers.
After attending industry poinsettia trials,
NGB worked with member poinsettia breeders
to create content aimed at inspiring purchase
and offering instruction for easy care.
NGB developed a poinsettia webpage with
background on the traditional holiday plant,
design inspiration, and care instructions. The
site also featured a video of breeders sharing
what they love about poinsettias.
A nationally distributed news article on the
same topic reached a circulation of nearly
200 million people, appearing in newspapers
and digital publications in almost every state
in the country.
" New and expanding interest in gardening
isn't limited to outdoors, " says Diane Blazek,
executive director of NGB. " Research shows that
novice and experienced gardeners are looking
for tips to improve their skills. With so many
poinsettia sold each year, we wanted to share
ways homeowners could interact with the plants
and improve their feeling of success. "
For 2022, NGB is creating more targeted
content and interactive ways for members to
reach their target consumer.
To learn more about the National Garden
Bureau, go to http://ngb.org.
USDA FLORICULTURE CROPS REPORT TO
INCLUDE ALL 50 STATES
For the first time ever, the U.S. floriculture industry will
soon have comprehensive data on domestic production
and sales in all 50 states due to changes to a survey by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural
Statistics Service (NASS).
That survey, from which the Floriculture Crops Summary
is compiled, will now include growers in all 50 states
and data on more crops as well as improvements and
enhancements to how sales are reported. Those findings
will be compiled in a report to be published in May.
The report shows trends in domestic production, informs
sales projections, and is used in determining government
agricultural policy as well as providing data for academic
studies. It is the only source of annual data on annual
bedding and garden plants, potted herbaceous perennials,
potted flowering plants for indoor and patio use, foliage
plants for indoor or patio use, cut flowers, cut cultivated
greens, and propagative floriculture materials.
The report will break out data individually for 28 states
that meet a sales threshold. The data for the remaining
22 states - whose sales fell below threshold - will be
grouped together.
Other changes include the reporting of sales as retail,
wholesale and total sales. In the past non-wholesale
prices were converted to the equivalent of wholesale prices.
The report will also include information about additional
crops.
The 2021 Floriculture Crops Summary will be published
May 25.
6 FEBRUARY 2022 GPNMAG.COM
SIGNIFY ACQUIRES FLUENCE
On Dec. 20, 2021, Signify announced it entered into a definitive agreement with
ams OSRAM to acquire Austin, Texas-based Fluence for $272 million. This acquisition
is expected to strengthen the company's global agriculture lighting growth platform
and extend its position in the North American horticultural lighting market.
The acquisition is fully in line with Signify's strategy to expand in growth
segments and its commitment to improving food availability by providing growers
with horticultural lighting that helps them to reduce resource consumption and
increase yields.
The acquisition will add Fluence's complementary horticultural lighting
technology to Signify's existing knowledge and expertise including light recipes for
growing of cannabis.
Fluence's technology also includes more than 140 issued and pending patents,
focusing on areas such as light quality, thermal management and installation
methods.
The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2022, subject to regulatory
approvals and other conditions.
INTERNATIONAL FRESH PRODUCE ASSOCIATION DEBUTS
Jan. 1 marked the debut of the new International Fresh Produce Association
(IFPA), the global trade association representing the fresh produce and floral supply
chains. The association represents the interests, individuals and organizations
across the global supply chain, of all sizes and specialties.
IFPA is a new association formed under the leadership of the two previous fresh
produce and floral associations, United Fresh Produce Association and Produce
Marketing Association. The new organization is not simply a combination of these
two organizations, IFPA is transformational.
The association is positioned to serve as a resource and partner for media,
policymakers and change leaders invested in the solutions the industry has the
power to provide.
http://www.ngb.org http://www.GPNMAG.COM
February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2022
