Executive update

Welcome to the first edition of Groundswell for 2023, our February edition. We hope that you had a safe and rejuvenating holiday season with loved ones and are feeling excited about all the possibilities and opportunities this year presents.

For many of our members, 2022 was another challenging year. While we continued to grapple with the implications and effects of COVID, unpredictable and extreme weather events posed even greater difficulties. Once again, we admired the strength and resilience of our members and their businesses and our ability as an industry to remain flexible and adaptable to the challenges we faced. NGIV will continue to support our members to thrive this year as we inevitably face unique challenges once again – we look ahead with hope and optimism and are confident that our members will enjoy great success.

In consideration of all that has changed and all we have learned in the past few years, the directors of Nursery & Garden Industry Victoria (NGIV) recognised the need to reassess our strategic plan last year. Throughout July 2022, the Board and staff participated in workshops with the goal of helping shape the association’s strategic framework for the next three years. We reflected on the past, identified key strategic tasks we delivered, assessed the impact of COVID on our lives and how its changed the way we do business. Additionally, we undertook some “blue sky” thinking, assessing NGIV’s strengths to understand what we do well and what makes us unique as an industry association. We then unpacked opportunities and directed our thinking to the circumstances that NGIV could leverage off for future success before an updated plan was developed and signed off by the Board in October 2022. Refer to page 25 for a summary of NGIV’s revised Strategic Plan to 2025.

Our 118th Annual General Meeting took place on Tuesday 22 November 2022 at Mansfield’s Propagation Nursery in Skye. A huge thanks to Symone Brown, Matt Mansfield and Will Mackintosh for hosting the evening. As well as reflecting on NGIV’s operational and financial performance in 2021/22, it was an opportunity to thank a departing Board member and welcome four new faces to the Board. Find out more on page 17.

In December 2022, the industry came together from across the state, country and abroad to celebrate Australian Horticultural Trials Week. Trials Week is a true celebration of the innovation and ingenuity that permeates the horticultural industry in Victoria, and it was wonderful this year to have the Garden Gurus, as seen on Channel 9, as our presenting partner. Congratulations to all exhibitors who took part in this special week. Find out more about them and what was on show during Australian Horticultural Trials Week 2022 on page 9.

Preparations for MIFGS are now well and truly underway and we expect 2023 to be one of the most exciting and enthralling shows yet. As the most impressive flower and garden show in the southern hemisphere already, we realise that’s a bold statement, but with some of the plans and ideas in place already, we’re confident that it will be a very special year.

In recent months, NGIV has welcomed three new staff members to our team – James Nicklen, our Communications and Marketing Specialist; Rachna Horn as Project Lead; and Jess Wozniak as our new Industry Engagement Manager. Each of them brings unique skills and experience to our highly skilled team and they look forward to contributing to the success of NGIV members’ businesses in the coming years.

Our mental health clinician, Gerard Tan, is also on-hand once again this year to support our members’ health and wellbeing and to aid in building socially and emotionally healthy workplaces Gerard can also facilitate referrals to the small business financial counselling and business advice and mentoring services. He looks forward to working with members again this year, having already provided support to many NGIV members. Connect with him at gerard.tan@each.com.au, or make a time to have a chat at calendly.com/gerardtan/30min.

The NGIV Board and team would like to wish all our members a happy, healthy and prosperous 2023 and we look forward to supporting your businesses and the broader horticultural industry this year.