BALTIMORE — The Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS), which took place Jan. 7-9 at the Baltimore Convention Center, partnered with Seed Your Future — an organization dedicated to promoting horticulture careers to young people — to expose middle and high school students to its industry.
Students toured the show and spoke to multiple exhibitors about their work and experiences. Additionally, their visit to MANTS was a way for students to make valuable connections they can leverage later on.
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“We had a cross-section of exhibitors students could visit with, and the companies talked to them about what they do and how they do it,” MANTS Show Manager Kelly Finney explained. “A lot of these companies take on interns all the time and give them stipends towards their education. We have a very active community, so if any of these kids wanted to go in that direction, we would certainly help them find a place where they might get some exposure to the industry.”
Similarly, Seed Your Future brought students to the Tropical Plant International Expo (TPIE), which was Jan. 21–23 at Fort Lauderdale’s Broward County Convention Center. During their visit, students also had the opportunity to speak to exhibitors to explore different horticulture careers — information these young people may not have otherwise learned.
“We’ve found that as a student, you’re not necessarily seeing the industry every day — so you get connected to a few ideas of what it is. But then you come to this trade show and you see people doing a variety of different things. You’re talking to people who are actually growing the plants. You’re connecting with people whose only job is to sell major accounts. You have other people who are focused on the displays themselves,” Shawn Pattison, Chief Operating Officer for the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association, which produces the event, said. “Students are exposed to an entirely different facet of the industry that they’re not going to pick up through a textbook. They definitely get a deeper context of the industry and agriculture careers.”
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This type of exposure is what Seed Your Future is all about — which will in turn help solve a long-standing labor problem the horticulture industry is experiencing. For example, according to the organization’s Board President, Broch Martindale, staffing is one of the biggest problems growers experience. As the National Nursery and Greenhouse Strategic Account Manager at Corteva Agriscience, he regularly hears about the staffing woes that have plagued these companies for years.
“I get to visit all the growers across the U.S., and when I ask them what some of their biggest challenges are, I would love for them to say it’s a weed or a disease or an insect that I can help them with — but most of the time they tell me their problem is labor,” he said.
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