Mar 10, 2016

New Initiative Aims to Increase Horticulture Awareness

Longwood Gardens and the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) announced the launch of the Seed Your Future initiative. The initiative is a multi-year effort to combat declining awareness of horticulture among U.S. audiences and promote horticulture as a vital and viable career path. More than 150 partner organizations have already signed on to the initiative.

In a recent survey, only 48 percent of adults aged 18 to 34 said they are familiar with horticulture, as compared with 65 percent of older adults.  And, while the majority of respondents view horticulture as essential to food, water and the environment, only 26 percent strongly agree that horticulture is a diverse area of study that will lead to a fulfilling and respected career.

Still in its infancy, the Seed Your Future initiative involves a multi-phased, multi-year approach to tackling these challenges and is actively seeking additional industry involvement to advance its efforts to educate the general public. Targeted to launch publicly in 2017, the broader campaign will be rolled out across a five-year period.

To date more than $750,000 of the initiative’s goal of $10 million has been raised through individual donors, organizations, universities, corporations and foundations.  These donations have allowed for the completion of initial audience research and the development of the Seed Your Future website, promotional video and other collateral materials.  Active development efforts are underway to continue to carry the initiative forward.

According to a 2015 employment outlook report from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and Purdue University, a total of 35,400 U.S. students graduate each year with a bachelor’s degree or higher in agriculture-related fields – 22,500 short of the 59,700 industry job openings available annually.

For more information on the initiative, visit the new Seed Your Future website.