Woodworth honored Distinguished Professional Award

Looking back, she says there are parts of the process that she understood the “how,” but not so much the “why.” Why would they want to shift away from the brown and green color scheme she saw from other companies in the area? And why would she need to think about companies in other industries that inspire her? But by the end, she was able to follow the evolution in thought process that’s promoted the Plants Creative messaging.

“As you grow, you start saying no in order to say yes to the right people,” she says. “That’s what it was for me,” she said.

Originally published by Lawn & Landscape in September 2019 at www.lawnandlandscape.com. Reprinted with permission.

Plants Creative also adopted a team mantra – “Putting you in your landscape” – and created a uniform color scheme across all its merchandise, trucks and advertisements.

Woodworth honored

UAC Executive Director receives UGA Distinguished Professional Award

Congratulations to UAC's very own Mary Kay Woodworth for receiving the

Distinguished Professional Award at the Agricultural Economics Association of Georgia annual luncheon at UGA in February. Mary Kay was recognized for her leadership that has advanced urban agriculture issues on many fronts. These include water conservation, workforce access and development, and drought mitigation, among others.

Mary Kay's outstanding work on drought mitigation established rules for limited outdoor water use for new landscape plantings. Without this step, nurseries, sod producers, and landscape installation companies would have taken an even larger economic hit during water shortages. Her conservation success was later used in shaping Georgia’s Water Stewardship Act in 2008, which included outdoor water use protections and improved water management learned from the drought.

UAC is proud to partner with UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Extension to advance professionalism in the urban ag industry. "I am deeply honored to receive this award – I never thought that I’d be recognized by an organization of economists! All kidding aside, the work that our UGA and state economists do is what arms us with important data to show our industry’s impact and value to Georgia. This data helps our elected officials and public policy makers to understand and make informed decisions on laws and regulations that impact Georgia businesses and citizens every day. "