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 As our primaries move around the country this year, it’s interesting to see the differences, and yet the similarities, between Bible Belt, New England, Midwestern, big state and small state voters in selecting candidates. Maybe a candidate will even care about our May North Carolina primary, usually a low profile event! Grassroots support for candidates has been an important feature of primaries and caucuses this year, and hopefully will carry over to the 2008 election.
Grassroots support is also important to ASHS, but we have only two Regional Groups still active—Southern and Northeast. As recently as 22 years ago, ASHS had five Regional Groups: Northeast, Southern, North Central, Western, and Tropical. Whither the Western, North Central, and Tropical Regions? This investigation was conducted with help from Executive Director Mike Neff, historian and former ASHS President Don Maynard, Paul Smeal, and others who sent in corrections and comments.
In the case of the Tropical Region (founded in 1951), it went independent of ASHS in 1986 and is now the Interamerican Society for Tropical Horticulture (ISTH). This Society is healthy and thriving, and now an Associated Group of ASHS.
The North Central Region (which began in 1918 as the Great Plains Region) met until the early 1990s (1990 being the last meeting in ASHS records, with 28 in attendance). From a survey sent to the NCR-ASHS membership at that time, it appears that other meeting conflicts, travel distances and costs, and similar factors contributed to the dormancy of this Region. However, the students of the Region have carried on under the organization known as MACHS (Mid-American Collegiate Horticultural Society). This organization is a part of the ASHS Association of Collegiate Branches (ACB) and meets annually at campuses around the region with a thriving program.
The ASHS Western Region began informally in 1922, and became a formal ASHS Regional Group in 1938, about the same historical timeline as the Southern Region. Usually meeting with the Pacific Division of AAAS, however, the WR-ASHS held its last meeting in 2002, with seven hard-core attendees.
Why did the two regions stop meeting? Some might suppose that the reduced ASHS Membership since the Society’s high of 5000 one August afternoon in 1990 to our 3200 today could contribute to the demise of regional interest. Yet, the NCR stopped meeting at the very height of ASHS membership. ASHS Membership is currently equal to what it was in 1976–77, when all of the Regions of ASHS were quite strong and active. So if its not numbers of members, what is it? Do some areas have more of a “regional” mindset? Both the southern states and New England have historically had strong cultural identities, but the Southern Region includes Oklahoma and West Virginia and the Northeast Region stretches from Maryland to Quebec so both regions are geographically diverse. The Western and North Central regions are even larger and more diverse, however. The NCR stretched from Ohio in the east to Alberta, Canada, to the northwest and the WR stretched from Colorado in the east to Hawaii to the west (and Alaska to the north!), making the selection of convenient central meeting locations difficult. Arguably states within these regions also had less in common horticulturally.
Looking at the question from another angle besides geography, what has allowed the Southern and Northeast regions to stay active? I’ve concluded that there are at least two keys to success of the remaining regions: coordinating with other groups in the case of the Southern Region and strong commitment from leaders and members for both groups. Typically NE Region meetings are held the first week in January with 30-40 attendees. This year’s meeting at Rutgers Univ. attracted nearly 50 people! For the NE Region, Carolyn DeMoranville has been Secretary–Treasurer and Program Chair since 2005 and was active before that, going back to 2001. And as true for any volunteer organization, this Region depends on members willingness to serve. Laura Hunsberger and Renae Moran are the most-recent past-presidents. Wesley Kline is currently NE-ASHS President, and Donglin Zhang is President-elect.
I was pleased to be able to attend the 2 - 4 Feb. 2008 ASHS Southern Region meeting in Dallas. The Southern Region has roots going back to 1920 when a horticultural group formed as a branch of the Southern Agricultural Workers. This group became the ASHS Southern Region in 1938. SR-ASHS still meets under the aegis of the Southern Agricultural Workers, now the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS), which just held its 105th meeting! Paul Smeal’s history of the Southern region is available at: http://www.srashs.org/History/History.html. Except for World War II, SR-ASHS has met every year since 1938. As a meeting partner, SAAS brings together diverse groups including Academic Department Heads, Administrative Heads, Ag. Communications, Ag. Econ., Ag. Ed., Agronomy, Animal Science, Biochemistry & Biotechnology, Plant Pathology, Research Center Administrators, Rural Sociologists, as well as Horticulturists, allowing the groups to get better rates, conference facilities, and help in meeting and program planning. Meeting with so many groups also gives SR horticulturists a chance to interact with colleagues in other disciplines, as the poster and oral sessions are open to all attendees. The pecan, blueberry/small fruit, watermelon, and cowpea working groups have separate programs and meetings before or during the conference. Although they met elsewhere this year, the sweetpotato collaborators also usually meet with SR-ASHS.
The Southern Region has been exceptionally fortunate in its leaders, including Paul Smeal, John Clark, Fred S. Davies, George Wilson, Dan Lineberger and of course yours truly, who have or will serve as ASHS Presidents from 2000-2009. Paul Smeal served as SR Secretary-Treasurer for 16 years (1990-2006) before turning over the books and file cards to current Secretary-Treasurer, David Reed. Current and recent past SR Presidents, Doug Bailey, Penny Perkins-Veazie, Scott NeSmith, David Reed, Janet Cole, John Clark, Regina Bracy, Mel Garber and Dewayne Ingram (2001-2009) have also been strong ASHS leaders at the national level. Look for future SR meetings in Atlanta and Orlando with Jim Ballington, current SR President-Elect-Elect presiding in Orlando in 2010. Not to mention contributions from the SR Executive Committee, Nominating Committee, Section Chairs, and Paper Competition Chairs, all of whom are listed on the well-developed SR website: http://www.srashs.org/index.html. SR publishes several newsletters each year and at any one time, over 60 SR members serve in various leadership roles!
However, even within this, our largest division, there are concerns. At the business meeting concluding a successful and well-attended 2008 Conference, David Reed presented a chart showing the peak Southern Region membership of 539 from 1995-1997 has now declined to around 290, not a good trajectory! Current proposed cuts to the ARS budget affecting research stations threaten not only Southern Region horticulturists but other agricultural scientists. So as well as working to protect research dollars for horticulture in the new Farm Bill, the National Issues Task Force and Board will look at how we can work to help protect ARS horticultural research.
Another positive aspect of the regional meetings is easier participation from students, arguably, one the most important groups present at the Southern and Northeast meetings (or any region for that matter—take MACHS for example). These include ACB clubs and individual undergraduate, MS, and PhD students. Competing in judging, poster or oral session contests or just attending sessions, a regional meeting is often a student’s first professional experience. In the Southern Region, dedicated ACB advisors and award chairs deserve much credit for keeping students engaged and active, including organizing the J. Benton Storey Student Horticultural Crops Judging Contest, a longstanding regional tradition. In fact the Southern Region gives out a lot of awards (13, plus Extension Communication awards), including over $2,000 in CASH from an endowment of $75,000, so we need to credit all the award chairs and committees. You must be a SR member to win! NE-ASHS also gives cash prizes to students from an Endowment started by Dr. Norm Childers.
So the Northeast and Southern regional groups provide an affordable, lower-stress meeting for students. Faculty can meet colleagues to present new research or discuss mutual research interests in a less formal setting. What about our members in the North Central and Western Regions? Can the dormant Regions be revived? Do we have enough dedicated members, and enough interest, to support all our previous four regions? I would challenge each ASHS Member in the “missing” regions to give serious thought to these questions. Would you and your colleagues benefit from the interaction opportunities offered by a regional meeting? What about your students? Certainly the strength of MACHS offers an opportunity for a revitalized NCR group. Rest assured that National ASHS is committed to supporting our current regions through links from the website, online dues collection, and online conference registration and general organizational help, and would be equally supportive of reborn and rejuvenated Western and North Central Regions! In the meantime both the Southern and Northeast Regions welcome participants from all regions at their conferences! In 2009, Y’all come on down to Atlanta to join the Southern Region or go to Delaware to meet with the NE Region!
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Mary Peet 2007-2008 
