Ready To Grow Your Business?
Tainted Vegetables
Financial Hardship
Soaring Food Prices
Regional Drought
Climate Change
These are just a few of the many reasons why the home vegetable garden is making a comeback in a big way. If you own a small nursery or garden shop, the PGTA can help you grow your business, all year long, while significantly minimizing seasonal sales fluctuations.
Sales of vegetable seeds and plants for the 2009-2010 season were up by 40 percent over the previous year, an unheard of one year growth rate for any segment of the $40 billion annual lawn and garden market. Why? Because the rise in energy prices is not only affecting fuel prices, but virtually every consumer product including food. Obviously, one of the easiest ways to provide a hedge against rising food prices is to grow your own.
Of course, other factors are driving this growth, including continuing reports of contaminated vegetables, growing concern for the environment, and even supplementing the family income with small market farms and gardens.
The Progressive Gardening Trade Association has been on the forefront of these issues for over a decade, providing information on progressive home gardening techniques that include organics, hydroponics, drip irrigation, container and other eco-friendly, water-wise plant growth and food production solutions.
Why the PGTA?
One of the most prevalent impediments to the successful application of progressive gardening technologies is the lack of accurate and reliable information available to the consumer.
Low paid employees at big box stores and discount centers generally don't have the expertise nor experience necessary to successfully guide the customer.
The PGTA provides the help you need to successfully help your customers grow healthy food, aromatic herbs, and fantastic flowers, right in their homes or yards, with methods that are safe, responsible and eco-friendly.
For more information on how the PGTA can benefit your business and community, see our membership information page.
Education
The Progressive Gardening Trade Association works with many organizations to further the use of progressive gardening techniques in classrooms of all grade levels. For the past several years, we have worked in conjunction with the National Gardening Association, The Grow Store in Colorado and numerous product manufacturers to provide indoor hydroponic gardening grant packages to elementary, middle and high schools.
These packages provide eligible schools with the equipment and expertise that encourage students to explore how plants grow in hydroponics, without soil, which provides real world experience for subjects including biology, mathematics, science, and many others. We hope that you will encourage your customers to make their childrens schools aware of this exciting program and offer them the opportunity to participate.
We are excited to announce that we will be revamping the entire Hooked On Hydroponics Grant Program for future years.
We are also excited to announce the formation of the Professional Hydroponics Education Council (PHEC), which will bring standardized curriculum and certification programs to those interested in higher education programs emerging as a result of the emerging Hydroponics and Environmentally Controlled Agriculture (HECA) industries. Again, check back for further details.
2011 Annual Media Awards Program
Our thanks goes out to all participants in the 2011 Annual Media Awards Program. The purpose of the program is to recognize PGTA member efforts to create superior advertising, writing, websites and other projects and materials aimed at promoting the image and encouraging the use of earth-friendly, water-wise and organic gardening principles.
Click here to see the winners for the 2011 PGTA Media Awards as well the winning entries from 2008, 2009, and 2010!
2011 Annual Meeting News
We extend our appreciation to the Maximum Yield Colorado Expo for co-hosting the 14th Progressive Gardening Trade Association Annual Meeting on March 31 – April 3, 2011, at the Denver Convention Center. Exhibitors and attendees had 4 action-packed days to experience the best the industry has to offer. From keynote speakers, to educational clinics, socials and two days of face-to-face trade show time with over 240 international exhibitors, the Colorado Expo & PGTA Annual Meeting turned out to be the most comprehensive and biggest indoor gardening event ever!
Our sincere thanks goes out to our PGTA Meeting Sponsors including Hydrofarm, Tradewinds Wholesale Garden Supplies, Homegrow Hydroponics and Technaflora Plant Products.
Charlie Watson Memorial Party
PGTA Vice-President Charlie Watson of The Grow Store in Denver, was a shining star in our industry and passionate about working with kids and schools to further hydroponic educational efforts through the PGTA Educational Grant program Hooked on Hydroponics, and the newly created Professional Hydroponics Education Council (PHEC).
We appreciate the contributions from the following companies that helped make Charlie's Memorial Party the success he would have appreciated, including:
The Can Filter Group
Hydrofarm
Yeti Enterprises
High Caliper Growing
The Grow Store
The Big Tomato
Bloomington Wholesale Garden Supply (BWGS)
Groganics
Hydrodynamics International
Brite-Lite Que-Pousse
Pueblo Hydroponics
Sunlight Supply
Grodan
Hydro-Mart
Green Air Products
Everest Garden Supply
Greenstar Plant Products (Grotek)
General Hydroponics
David Grow, Inc.
BioFloral
...along with many individual donations, and for all, we again express our heartfelt thanks. A very special thank you goes out to Jessica Lilga for her hard work in bringing it all together.
PGTA Hydroponic Food Garden Tour
The Progressive Gardening Trade Association, in cooperation with member sponsors including American Hydroponics, Botanicare Plant Energy Boosters, General Hydroponics, Grodan, Hydrofarm Horticultural Products, Sunlight Supply and National Garden Wholesale, Nature's Control, Nickel City Wholesale Garden Supply, Progress Earth, Spray-N-Grow, Sunleaves Garden Products, and The Grow Store, produced an outstanding Hydroponic Food Garden Tour for members of the Garden Writers Association as part of the GWA 2009 Annual Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Held on Sunday, September 27th, 2009, volunteers from member companies converged on PGTA Board Member Peyam Barghassa's (Grodan) suburban home just south of Raleigh where the tour was held. Over 40 garden writers from publications including Organic Gardening, Southern Living, Garden Design magazines, plus organizations including the U.S. National Arboretum, Burpee & Co. and many others were treated to a naturally prepared lunch followed by a multi-part hydroponic food tour that included stops in the kitchen garden, hobby greenhouse, outdoor hydroponics, soilless raised beds and more.
See more pictures of this exciting event on our Facebook page and be sure to "Like" the Progressive Gardening Trade Association!
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