The countdown is on!

Registrations for the 2010 Nursery & Garden Industry National Conference close on April 15. Held in the tropical Northern Territory, from April 19 – 22, you will want to be part of this exciting industry event.

This year’s Conference program features topics for all of industry; sessions will inform and inspire you to identify the opportunities for your business:

• Learn Australia’s most popular politician's recipes for success – Local MLA Gerry Wood polled over 70% of the primary vote last election;
• How do you attract good staff and retain them to maximise return on investment? Annette Gillanders, Managing Director of BIZnorth Pty Ltd will present an insightful session on how to manage this vital part of your business;
• Why do you need to spend five minutes a day looking at the economy? Find out by joining economist Neville Norman in a revealing session on how this action can make a positive difference to your business.

What’s New?

Woolworths at Conference!

NGIA is excited to announce that Woolworths will be presenting at National Conference! Melinda Smith Chief Operating Officer, Ian Roberts Senior Merchandise Manager and Ann McKeon Green-life, Gardening and Landscaping Buyer will outline their vision for “Project Oxygen” – their new concept stores set to be launched next year.

Grasp this Opportunity and discover what this new player wants in a supplier! This session will be 45 minutes long and include substantial time where you can ask questions and get answers first-hand from those involved.

Jacqui Gibbs, NGIA National Marketing & Communications Manager says: “This is a fantastic opportunity to find out about this new player and how they will slot into the green-life market. This is a not-to-miss opportunity which all of industry should be a part of.”

Don’t miss out on this ground-breaking conference session, but be quick! Registrations close April 15.

Go to www.ngiaevents.com.au/conference2010 to register or contact Natalie Walker, ph (02) 9876 5200.

Destination Darwin

In this edition of Countdown to Darwin we focus on two more businesses that will be part of the industry tours at Conference.

Retail Tour

Jenny's Orchid Garden

Enjoy the wonders of one of the most enchanting orchid gardens in Australia…

Jenny Bandias first started ‘Jenny’s Orchid Gardens’ as a self-taught, home-based hobby in the late 1980s. Motivated by sheer passion for growing orchids, combined with the courage to live the life she desired, Jenny set about developing what is now known as one of the best commercial orchid nurseries open to the public in Australia.

The gardens are a private collection of many years work with well-planned landscaping, combined with much foliage and an extensive range of tropical orchid species. Jenny’s private garden is a collection of over 2,500 plants

Production Tour

Ironstone Lagoon Nursery

If you take the production tour option you will have the chance to visit Ironstone Lagoon Nursery, but be careful of the saltwater crocs! Two thirds of the property is a flora and fauna reserve, and the lagoon was identified in a recent study as being the healthiest lagoon in the outer Darwin area. The property also attracts thousands of birds during the dry season.
The nursery itself is a generalist supplier which acts as a one-stop-shop for the landscape market, a place where trades people can get all their plants in one go. However, it also sells to the retail market. As well as standard pot sizes, the nursery has 5,000 in-ground palms.

Click here for more information

Other News

Fishing charter – four spots available!

Due to changes in plans there are now some spaces available on the fishing trips, to be held on Monday April 19 before the official commencement of the Conference.
Join with industry peers and enjoy time out relaxing and socialising while competing to win prizes for the heaviest fish caught offshore and the longest combined meters of fish. Prizes are sponsored by Dracaena Farm Nursery, QLD.

Click here for more information

Speaker Q & A

Neville Norman

Economist Neville Norman will be presenting 'The Crystal Ball' - What does the future hold?' on the Wednesday of the Conference

Your first paid job was as a gardener? Tell me what it was about the job that you enjoyed?

It was a lovely job, I was 14 and it was a summer school job in my local nursery. I was propagating and learning about trees. It was a wonderful experience to have had a wholesome, outdoor job. I did this every summer for five years and emotionally I have never left it.  We have comprehensive gardens both here and in England and I love being in the garden.

Your bio says that you have been in many famous places with many famous people. Can you give me an example of some of these places and people?

Yes, I have been lucky enough to rub shoulders with the rich and famous. I have been in the Board Room of General Motors in Detroit with the about-to-be-President George Bush Snr. I have had private meetings with Australian Treasurers and Prime Ministers, and have worked with sports stars as well as TV stars and film stars.

You are shedding light in what our economic future holds? Can you give me a bit of a taster as to what you will be telling us here?

I spoke at the NGI conference about four years ago and warned that we couldn’t assume there would be unbroken economic growth forever – a year ago my foresight came true and the GFC hit.

My presentation will be a combination of reading the economy and some other research directed at the nursery and garden industry.

Throughout the GFC we didn’t suffer much although some areas did and there are still some tensions. We are still in a tough economic environment and there are a lot of economic pointers that we can apply.

I did some research on the impact of the economic downturn on the industry and it has been quite severe in the USA, in the very big garden states of Oregon and Florida. We haven’t been immune, growth has substantially slowed. I will put across my recommendations and suggestions.

If there is one thing that your audience members will take away from your presentation, what would it be?

The need for more and better data on where you have been, where you are going and how well you did – performance evaluation with numbers. I show how to get this data and also make suggestions for the Association to collect more and better data. 

What are you personally hoping to get out of attending our conference and getting to know our industry?

I hope to get feedback and good questions – as a speaker I learn a lot from my audiences and will have questions at the end.

When people hear economist, they think “boring”, tell me what is about economics that you find so interesting?

It is your life and if you ignore it life will be terrible. I don’t like to be boring so there will be plenty of humour in my presentation.

The GFC - is it over yet? Can we expect another recession in the next 10 years?

No, it is not over. We must always be ready for a recession – pockets of the Australian community, for example those dependent on international tourism, have been very severely affected.