By Barbara Wunder, FFVA communications manager

“Identify clear direction!”

“Address staff succession!”

“Encourage face-to-face member interaction!”

FFVA’s Strategic Plan had been launched. In September, the FFVA Board of Directors approved the plan, which is intended to shape the next 10 or so years of serving the association’s membership, helping to enhance the competitive and business environment for producing and marketing fruits, vegetables and other crops.

“The strategic planning process gave the task force and the board a great opportunity to focus on a fresh look at FFVA, how it works and how it serves its members,” said Strategic Planning Task Force member Mac Carraway, president of the diversified agricultural operation SMR Farms LLC. “It affirmed a lot of what FFVA currently does, but it also rearranged some priorities and enhanced the organization’s mission.”

The plan addresses four “outcome-oriented goals” to be tackled in the next three to five years. Those are:
-- Leadership and advocacy
-- Knowledge-based resources
-- Member Services
-- Governance and organization

LEADERSHIP AND ADVOCACY

The leadership and advocacy goal encompasses four objectives, including increasing the association’s ability to identify emerging opportunities and challenges for its members. A priority for fiscal 2008-2009, FFVA already has taken steps in this direction with a realignment of staff.
 

“Our members tell us that they look to FFVA for expertise on issues critical to their operations – labor, food safety, water and pest management,” said FFVA President Mike Stuart. “This is reflected in the ‘expert knowledge’ goal in the strategic plan. The organizational changes we announced recently are designed to better align our staff structure with the plan and to enhance our already strong skill set in this area.”

Another move to improve the association’s ability to provide expert knowledge and effective advocacy for its members is the relocation of the director of water and natural resources to its headquarters in Maitland from Tallahassee.

“Tallahassee is a long way from the headquarters of the three largest water management districts,” Stuart said.  “Maitland is a much better base for the director.”  FFVA is seeking a qualified professional for this position, which was held by Alan Peirce for several years. The director of water and natural resources will report to Botts.

Tied closely to FFVA’s focus on advocacy and leadership is a push to increase member engagement and involvement in advocacy efforts. Members will be encouraged to actively communicate issues where advocacy is needed and to become effective spokespersons when needed.

Also, FFVA is moving forward to evaluate its capacity for advocacy at the state and federal level and developing plans to utilize a variety of alliances to increase effectiveness.

FFVA is also fine-tuning alliances with educational institutions and developing new or improved alliances with industry members and experts.

MEMBER SERVICES

FFVA wants its members to be aware of and take advantage of all the association offers now and in the future. “Our new association management software program provides us with significantly improved communications capacity with our members,” said Stuart. “We’ve completely renovated the Web site and the newsletter; but more important, we’re now able to custom-tailor communications directly to individual members. This will not only enhance communications, but hopefully strengthen our grassroots advocacy capabilities, too.”

In addition, the association’s Web site has evolved to become more relevant and member-friendly every day. See the next article for details on how to explore and benefit from the site you’re visiting now.

GOVERNANCE AND ORGANIZATION

New committees and ad-hoc groups will be formed to solve problems and address issues with the goal of having an organizational structure, process and culture that are dynamic, interactive and a catalyst for the success of the industry and the association.

FFVA ENVISIONS THE FUTURE

The Strategic Plan looks further down the road by making assumptions about the industry five to 10 years from now. As far as the legislative and regulatory environment, it assumes lawmakers with ties to agriculture will become extremely rare, so increased education efforts will be needed. Increased regulatory pressure is also anticipated.

On the technology horizon, FFVA sees genetic engineering as necessary to fight pests and diseases and offset loss of crop-protection tools. It sees no end to the struggle to find a stable supply of legal workers, so mechanical harvesting and other automation methods will be needed. And it sees the need for technological solutions to help keep the food supply safe.

“The plan calls for a new focus on increased member engagement and on increased outreach,” said Carraway. “The industry will depend on its members to be even more active in issues and advocacy and on successfully selling the idea that the health of agriculture is critical to the state of Florida and to those outside of the industry. It is an ambitious plan and will require a lot of hard work over the next several years, but the board and staff will no doubt be up to the challenge.”

Stuart added, “Strategic plans by definition are not a short-term process.  We’ll be working with the board on an on-going basis to implement the plan.”