INTERVIEW
“When it originally formed, we thought it might just be a network of contacts and it has already become that. We’re around 80 members now. Within that, if you asked me a question about compost, I’ve got four new people I could contact. If you ask me a question about the botany of a certain plant or the pathology of a certain plant, there are five people I could ring. “Selfishly as someone who came into the industry through my family, having contacts that are mine, that I didn’t inherit, is massively empowering. It can be a lonely place for young people if you’ve just joined the industry, especially if you’ve found your own way and you haven’t already got family contacts. “We can talk about what the problems are from our point of view. Take the weather this month. It has caused growers, retailers and social marketers different problems, and we can touch base on current issues. “It has already become more than that with the support we’re getting across the industry and with the support from within the group. People are stepping up and saying I want to take responsibility. Between Molly, Liam and I it was always going to be a bit of a stretch to man something of the size that it’s now become. Quite quickly we’ve all found people that we trust to take on other elements of the project.
www.gardentradenews.co.uk
“We’ve got a social media marketing manager. We’ve got a school liaison team manager, a bulletin’s team manager and a website manager, someone that’s going to post job adverts and bursery listings on the website. People have quite quickly come forward and taken on roles that have elevated the group to. a level further than we dared to dream it could be. “And then in terms of the people that we’ve attracted, in terms of Ambassadors – Pippa Greenwood, Boyd Douglas-Davies, Michael Perry the Plant Geek. The publicity that we’ve already been given on the back of having those people involved has risen the expectation.” If readers of GTN want to join how do they go about doing that? “Just send an email to yphassociation@ outlook.com. They don’t have to pay to join. They just need to be under 35 and in UK horticulture.”
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