Costa’s Rimland Joins AIPH Board

Chris Beytes

We’re not sure when the last time the United States was represented on the board of the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH), but we’ve got one now: Mike Rimland of Costa Farms in Homestead.

Mike, the director of R&D for Costa’s indoor plant division, was part of the Costa team that accepted AIPH’s “International Grower of the Year Award” in 2016.

Mike is taking over the seat of Bill Stensson from Sheridan Nurseries in Canada. He was nominated by AIPH member AmericanHort and had the support of the other member countries in the region.

A well-seasoned horticulture veteran, Mike is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on indoor plant varieties. He has 40 years of plant hunting, breeding and production experience, and he spends a considerable amount of time traveling the world, talking to breeders and growers.

The other AIPH board members are:

Mr. Bernard Oosterom, Netherlands (President)

Mr. Tim Edwards, UK (Vice President and Chair of Ornamentals Production Committee)

Prof. Zhang Qixiang, China (Vice President)

Ms. Karen Tambayong, Indonesia (Chair of Green City Committee)

Mr. Kevin Chung, Chinese Taipei (Chair of Exhibitions Committee)

Mr. Osman Bagdatlioglu, Turkey

Ms. Kong Haiyan, China

Mr. Andras Treer, Hungary

Mr. Gijs Kok, Netherlands

What is AIPH? It’s the association of the world’s horticulture associations. AIPH (which is the acronym for the official French name “Association Internationale des Producteurs de l’Horticulture”) was founded in 1948 in the aftermath of World War II to mend relations and rebuild bridges between Europe’s horticulturists. Today, there are more than 50 associations around the world that belong, including AmericanHort, the Canadian Ornamental Horticulture Alliance, the Federation Interdisciplinaire de l’Horticulture Ornementale du Quebec, Canadian Nursery Landscape Association and Flowers Canada Growers Inc.

For more, visit www.aiph.org. GT