Wednesday 15 April 2015

About the 2015 AIPH Spring Meeting...


AIPH Spring Meeting highlights strength in international collaboration

The benefits of international collaboration between industry trade bodies were clear to see at this year’s Spring Meeting of the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) held in Paris, France on 18 March. AIPH members from across the world gathered to debate current industry topics and agree collaborative activities.

The meeting was opened with presentations on the ornamentals industry in France from Isabelle Descamps from PromoJardin and Aline Haeringer from Val’hor. According to Ms Descamps, “The French garden market is worth 7.5 billion euro and the market for plants is worth 1.93 billion euro”. 2013 was a poor year for sales and 2014 figures are still only flat against 2011. Ms Haeringer introduced the work undertaken by Val’hor to stimulate the plant market in France. This includes campaigns to promote the purchase of flowers, a school garden week and Plante Bleure certification.

During the AIPH Environment & Plant Health Committee members debated the issue of nursery certification following a presentation by the Executive Officer of the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI), Jeroen Oudheusden. Committee Chairman, Gery Heungens from Belgium, noted that “It was agreed that the drive for certification of plant products is not going away. The need to demonstrate quality, sustainable production has meant that certification standards provide a useful service for the industry and help to embed best practice. Interestingly it was noted that product-level certification is likely to become a bigger issue for the future compared to business-level certification that is most widespread at the moment”.

The AIPH Novelty Protection Committee, chaired by Bernard Oosterom from The Netherlands, included a presentation from the President of CPVO (EU Community Plant Variety Office), Martin Ekvad, on how all stakeholders can be included in influencing the EU Plant Variety Rights system. Mr Oosterom commented “AIPH is actively involved in protecting the interests of growers to preserve the important ‘growers exemption’ that gives growers the ability to breed new plants from any plant material. Excessive protection legislation will effectively stifle innovation in plant breeding and working with organisations like CPVO we will ensure that the voice of growers is properly heard”.

The AIPH Green City Committee, chaired by Karen Tambayong from Indonesia, heard from Dominique Douard on the French Cite Verte initiative to green French cities. With an annual budget of 1.4 million euro the programme has developed a Green City Manifesto that it uses to influence local authorities across France to plant more in cities. Ms Tambayong commented, “AIPH provides a unique forum for sharing Green City activity worldwide, it is great to hear of all that is going on in France. My Committee is working hard to help set standards for green cities and to stimulate a real step change in urban greening”.

The AIPH Marketing & Exhibitions Committee, chaired by Kevin Chung from Chinese Taipei, reviewed progress on upcoming international horticultural exhibitions. Mr Chung commented, “We have so many exciting AIPH approved exhibitions coming up and these present such a great opportunity for the industry to display how special it is”. Exhibitions will take place in Antalya (Turkey) and Tangshan (China) in 2016, Taichung (Chinese Taipei) in 2018, Beijing (China) in 2019 and Almere (Netherlands) in 2022. Commenting on the meeting, AIPH President Vic Krahn, said “There is no other forum like AIPH for growers around the world to share what they are doing and to learn from each other. I am pleased that AIPH is progressing so many important initiatives that will help growers in their own countries to raise the profile and perception of plants and grow this important market for the benefit of the whole industry and society overall”.

Website: www.aiph.org

Tuesday 7 April 2015

History : Floriade 2012: "Be part of the theatre in nature, get closer to the quality of life!"


The Floriade is the World Horticultural Expo, which is organised once every ten years in the Netherlands. The sixth edition of Floriade will be taking place from 5 April until 7 October 2012 in the Venlo Regio in Noord-Limburg. With an expected number of two million visitors, Floriade is the largest event being staged in the Netherlands in 2012. Noord-Limburg is the first region to be asked to organise Floriade by the Dutch Horticulture Council outside of the Randstad conurbation. The region around Venlo ranks as one of the major concentrations of horticulture in the Netherlands. If the neighbouring German region of Niederrhein is also included, then the Floriade park is situated in one of the largest contiguous horticultural areas of West-Europe. Thanks to the important agribusiness and its favourable, central location, Venlo has developed into a logistic hotspot. For these reasons, the Dutch government has designated the Venlo region to be one of the five Greenports in the Netherlands.



This edition of Floriade is far more than just a fascinating day out for two million visitors. It marks a strategic moment in the permanent development of an area covering 5,000 hectares to the north west of Venlo. After Floriade, the site will be left as a legacy to Venlo GreenPark: a sustainable business park in leafy, green surroundings. Knowledge and expertise in the domain of agribusiness converge here. This edition of Floriade will also serve to drive the development of knowledge relating to sustainability. The various sustainable buildings constructed on the Floriade site and in the surroundings are witness to this.


Visitors to Floriade will be introduced to the many facets of the horticultural sector in an inspirational and interactive manner. The central theme of this edition is taken as the principle starting point: 'Be part of the theatre in nature, get closer to the quality of life!' This theme has been translated into five themed zones or worlds, where visitors can experience the influence of horticulture on our daily lives using all their senses.


The Floriade park will host more than one hundred exhibits in the form of gardens or pavilions representing participants from the horticultural sector, business community and international participants. In addition, each day Floriade features a cultural programme of music, dance, theatre and visual art from all over the world. Each themed zone boasts its own play area and hospitality areas where guests can enjoy an array of national and international culinary dishes. They can also
savour a picnic surrounded by flowers and trees, lounge on the banks of the water or sit on the theatre hill and delight in the countless shows  and performances.


For a panoramic view of the entire park, take a ride in the Floriade Cable Car. With a length of 1.1 kilometres and a height of more than 30 metres, the Floriade Cable Car is a unique attraction in the Netherlands. The attraction whisks visitors
from one side of the park to the other in five minutes.


Visitors
Floriade 2012 expects to welcome at least two million paying visitors: 40% from the Netherlands, 40% from Germany (mainly from the German federal state of North Rhine Westphalia) and 20% from other countries, including Great Britain, France, Italy and China. The Floriade is promoted in these countries by the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions.


Floriade expects that 85% of the total number of visitors will be consumers, with trade professionals making up the remaining 15%. Floriade 2012 places a high emphasis on families with children. For children in the age group
4 thru 12 years a special programme for that age range 'Floriade Kids' has been set up.


Planting
Flowers, plants, shrubs and trees play the starring role during the World Horticultural Expo. So expect to see these beauties in abundance during the sixth edition of Floriade. In between the original wooded areas some 1,8 million bulbs, 190,000 perennials, 18,000 shrubs, 15,000 hedge plants, 5,000 rose bushes and 3,000 trees have been planted.


The planting schemes reflect the five themed zones: Relax & Heal, Green Engine, Education & Innovation, Environment and World Show Stage. The plants emphatically bring a unique atmosphere to each of the different theme worlds.


The Floriade is home to a huge number of exceptional plants and collections of plants. For instance, the Friends' Woodland houses a large collection of fruit trees and fruit hedges, comprising heirloom varieties of orchard trees and modern varieties of fruit. The avenue of trees is formed by 120 different unusual tree species, including the Ginkgo Biloba, also known as the Japanese nut tree or Chinese temple tree. This tree was introduced to Europe in 1730 being first planted in the Botanic Gardens in Leiden.


Another amazing attraction is the pleached limes with ten (!) layers of branches in the Education & Innovation zone and the variety of examples of office gardens in Environment, many of which are the result of a competition among garden
and landscape designers and professional gardeners in the Netherlands and Belgium.


Participants
The participants at Floriade fall into a number of categories. To start with, there are national and international participants with an exhibit at the park. Floriade expects to display around forty exhibits from nations all over the world.


The national participants partly represent the five main sectors of horticulture: flower bulb growing, fruit and vegetable growing, arboriculture, ornamental plants and flowers and professional landscape gardeners. In addition, countless Dutch companies are also contributing to the sixth edition of Floriade, either in the form of their own exhibits or by helping to lay the basic structure of the park.
A number of public and semi-public bodies are also attending Floriade.


Turkey pavilion chose Pomegranate for its logo

Logo of Turkish pavilion :


The theme, centered around the teachings and experiences of a 12.000-year-long history, is embodied through the fruit of pomegranate. As one of the richness of Turkey in agriculture, “Nar”, Turkish for pomegranate, inherently represents diversity within unity. “Nar” is both singular and plural, and the symbol of fertility and abundance in the world. It has come to be associated with positive attributes in many cultures and religions. “Nar” encompasses each and every one of our values and, through its very nature, is ready to share with the rest of the world.

The theme “DIGGING INTO HISTORY FOR FUTURE FOOD”, inspired by the opulent and abundant attributions of “Nar”, is inlaid and displayed in the entire architectural and contextual design and formation of the Turkish Pavilion.

Source : Turkey pavilion Website