The University of California Nursery and Floriculture Alliance (UCNFA) is a collaborative effort dedicated to conducting research and outreach activities tailored to address the challenges and needs of California’s nursery and greenhouse industry. UCNFA is a partnership between UC Cooperative Extension and UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences academics. UCNFA fosters collaboration among researchers, educators, producers, nursery associations, and others in the Green Industry. We are a diverse group of academics with expertise in plant nutrition, water management, plant pathology, pest control, and substrate science.

UCNFA’s mission is to provide educational support for the members of California’s Green Industry that produce greenhouse and outdoor nursery crops. To achieve that, we aim to maintain a consistent presence within the industry by providing outreach programs like our “Ask the Advisor” series of discussions, technical irrigation training, disease diagnostic service for greenhouse and nursery producers, and informative videos covering nutrition, irrigation, and plant pathology. We are available to provide technical resources and support for the nursery and greenhouse industry throughout California. Many of our educational materials are available on our website https://ucnfa.ucdavis.edu/.

Prior to 2019, UCNFA issued a newsletter three times a year for 21 years which served as a valuable source of information for the ornamental production industry. Publication of the UCNFA newsletter ceased with the retirement of UC Cooperative Extension Advisors Steve Tjosvold, Jim Bethke, Julie Newman, and Specialist Richard Evans. Since the retirement of this cohort of academics, many Advisors have been hired to continue UCNFA’s role and make valuable contributions to the greenhouse and nursery industry in California. As a new cohort of UCNFA members, we aim to revamp and resume releasing three issues per year of the UCNFA newsletter. Each issue will showcase featured articles covering a specific theme, highlighting the latest scientific findings relevant to the industry, offering insights into horticultural methods, techniques and growing practices, sharing regional Advisor reports, presenting invited grower articles with interviews and contributions from nursery stakeholders, informing readers about relevant campus news and educational meetings, workshops, and other outreach opportunities.

In this first issue since 2018, we proudly introduce all UCNFA members, inviting members of California’s greenhouse and nursery industry to get acquainted with our new team of enthusiastic scientists and the expertise they can contribute to the industry. We are thrilled to continue addressing plant nutrition, water management, regulatory, disease and pest control challenges through research, education, and technical collaborations with industry partners.