News & Media

Year-end message from  Alan Jones
International Chair

2018 - Another Wonderful Year for IPPS Around the World!

As another year comes to an end, I wanted to give the IPPS membership an update on recent IPPS International Board activities.

In September, the International Board of Directors met during the International Tour hosted by the Eastern Region. The tour started in New York City, exploring nurseries, gardens and local sites and further afield on Long Island, New Jersey and Delaware, where the Eastern Region Conference was held. The participants were offered a unique tour that provided access to some locations open only by special arrangement. Thank you to Paul Cappiello and Joel Kronin for their help in organizing the many wonderful visits.

Highlights from the International Board meeting:

IPPS International Constitution Amendments
The updating of the International IPPS constitution has long been overdue due to the changes in the way the organization is now structured and managed. It has been many years since the constitution was last reviewed and through the efforts of Peggy Walsh-Craig (ER), Donna Fare (SR), Bill Turk (SR) and Hans Sittig (SA) an updated version was approved by the Board and is now ready for membership and regional approval. In early January, all dues paying members will receive a copy of the amended constitution and will be asked to vote to approve it. It will be a simple Yes or No vote as stipulated in the existing constitution.

Here is an Executive Summary of the IPPS Constitution changes:

• Adds the right of Regions to define their own territories and to have the territories defined as Appendix ‘A’ to the Constitution
• Adds a new process for approving new Regions, i.e. approval required of a majority of Regions plus the Board. This process was previously not defined.
• Active members will now include those “previously employed” in horticulture “as a career”
• The classification of “Privileged” Members is removed because we weren’t using it.
• International (formerly “at-large”) members are now more fully defined.
• Wording which referred to all delegates as “directors” has been changed to “Alternate Delegates” instead of “Alternate Directors” to conform to our usual practice and to avoid any misunderstandings about the voting status of directors.
• Term lengths and limits for the Executive positions are more clearly defined.
• Adds to the Board the right to fill vacancies on the Board.
• Adds a dollar limit to the signing authority of the Executive Secretary.
• Requires approval of travel expenses by a member of the Executive Committee.
• Sets out more clearly the process by which the Constitution can be amended.
• Names the governing law of the organization.

The main changes that are being proposed will bring the constitution into a form that is more consistent with the way the organization is currently being managed in a time of improved technology and changing practices.

Proceedings
Those who purchase the Black Book should have received their copy by now. This is the final publication of the traditional printed Black Book that IPPS has published for over 66 years. As reported many times in the past couple of years, IPPS is going digital with future conference papers being posted on the IPPS website. It is anticipated that conference Power Point presentations and videos will also be hosted on the IPPS website to provide membership with as much conference information as possible.

I would like to once again thank Dr. Charles Heuser, our retiring International Editor, for his outstanding service to IPPS.

The Future - Conference papers and Power Point presentation
Bob Geneve, the new International Editor, is working with regional editors to establish the most suitable way to collect and present Power Point presentations for uploading on the IPPS website. Over the past few years we have seen an increase in Power Point presentations and a sharp decline in the number of presentations submitted as traditional “written papers” suitable for printing in the Proceedings. This decline has been of concern to the International Directors and to regions as there is a lot of information not being captured and shared with membership.

A key focus of the new International Editor is to offer conference Power Point and video presentations on the IPPS website. Future presenters can help support Bob Geneve and regional editors by submitting conference presentations in a timely manner. The new digital format will allow conference presentations to be made available to membership much sooner than in the past.

International Dues
A small international dues increase was approved which helps offset the change in the way the editorial costs for collecting conference papers has changed. In the past, the editorial costs for producing the Proceedings were paid for by those who purchased the book. Going forward, all members will contribute to the editorial costs for the collection of papers and Power Point presentations to be posted on the IPPS website.

Regional Visits
In October, I had the pleasure of attending the Japan Region annual conference and also had an opportunity to meet with the executive committee of the region. Thank you to the Japan Region for their very kind and generous hospitality.

New Regions – China and India
Clive Larkman and the Australian Region are continuing to work on the development of the Proposed IPPS China Region. Following a very successful conference this past spring we are excited by this opportunity in China.

Dharam Sharma and the Western Region is working to support an IPPS Region in India. A group of IPPS members are attending the International Conference on Next Generation Plant Production and Bioresources Utilization Technologies, February 11-13, 2019 in Guwahati, India to introduce IPPS to the Indian horticultural industry.

Additional information: https://ngppbut2019.in
Conference organizer: Rakhi Chaturvedi - Rakhi_chaturvedi@iitg.ac.in

2019 International Tour – “Tropical Horticulture: It is a question of Latitude”
Australia.
May 17 – 29, 2019
Clive Larkman has prepared an exciting and very full International Tour of the north east region of Australia. Starting in Port Douglas and ending with the Australian/New Zealand joint conference in Maroochydore, Southern Queensland, May 29 - June 1, 2019. Please consider joining your IPPS friends on this tour. For those who have never been on an IPPS International tour they are quite unique in that you are among friends, industry colleagues that all have similar interests. These tours are extremely good value for money and often gain access to locations not usually open to visitors.

Full tour and conference information is available on the Australia Region page on the IPPS website – http://www.ipps.org
If you have an interest in joining the tour or need more information please contact Clive now as soon as possible. Clive@Larkmannurseries.com.au

International Directors
The following directors are leaving the International Board in December: Peggy Walsh-Craig (Eastern Region), Paul Cappiello (Eastern Region), Lindsey Hatch(New Zealand Region) and Gene Blyth (Western Region). Thank you for your service to IPPS, it was greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the new officers and directors for 2019.

Clive Larkman – International President
Douglas Justice – International Vice President
Bill Barnes – Eastern Region Director
Steve Castorinii – Eastern Region Alternate
Tony Van der Staay – Australia Region Alternate
John Beaumont - New Zealand Region Alternate
Ishii Katsuaki – Japan Region Alternate

I wish all IPPS members a pleasant holiday season and a very prosperous New Year.

Alan Jones
International Chairman
Monkton, Maryland, U.S.A.