About us
Our vision is to be the most responsive, sustainable, and viable microgreens organization by providing micro-opportunities for members to influence macro-change in agriculture and their communities.
We are committed to offering unwavering support to all our chapters and actively promoting our valued industry partners. With a strong emphasis on collaboration, our association seeks to facilitate meaningful connections between industry suppliers, educational institutions, and growers. We accomplish this through a wide array of initiatives, including conferences, networking and support events, as well as comprehensive classes and educational resources. Our research findings and discoveries will always remain accessible to benefit the entire community.
Our Intentions
Our primary mission as an industry trade membership association is to foster a global alliance among professional microgreen growers and suppliers, dedicated to highlighting the distinct health benefits inherent to microgreens. We collaborate closely with researchers and government agencies, not only to ensure the ongoing safe production of microgreens but also to advance public awareness of their remarkable nutritional advantages.
For the Industry Members The IMGA will...
Promote business opportunities for existing and new microgreen growers to retailers and consumers.
Establish recognized industry and health standards from within this association that apply solely to this unique specialty crop.
Create a strong, ethical, industry trade group, to give our members the authoritative voice in the microgreen growing industry.
Establish the only centralized database on microgreens, accessible to members only, which will provide potential growers with the confidence of scientific information, easily adopted into their marketing plan to safely start their business, which would otherwise, never been possible.
Develop this industry with responsible leadership through the best of scientific research.
Encourage and recruit growers to fill the demand and provide competitiveness within this specialty crop market.
The IMGA platform and data collected will help growers sell, advertise, promote, market, generate publicity, attract new customers, and raise customer awareness.
For the Retailers and Consumers The IMGA will...
Provide education about microgreens.
Will assist consumers and retailers looking to connect with microgreen growers.
For the Government Regulatory Bodies The IMGA will...
Enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops through increased sales.
Enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops through enhancing or improving the economy as a result of specialty crop development.
Produce annual reports on the status of the microgreens industry.
Research from our team done to date, has found no entities collecting data on microgreen industry sales in dollars, so there is no baseline.
Determine a baseline of sales in dollars of microgreens in U.S.
Determine the number of farmers in U.S. that identify themselves as commercial microgreen growers.
Contact as many growers in the nation as possible with the intention to identify any shortfalls of information that the IMGA, its growers, suppliers and stakeholders need in order to evolve Microgreens specialty crop into thriving food producing industry.
For the Industry The IMGA will...
When the IMGA director raised the possibility of setting such an organization up as the IMGA, growers that she spoke with, became very excited as there are thousands of interested microgreen growers on facebook groups but are all fearful of taking the next step. The IMGA director believes multitudes of new growers will come forward, now that information on this specialty crop will be managed to their benefit.
First, a literature review of research studies on microgreens will be archived on the IMGA’s website, reported in scientific literature and news media, and provided to microgreen growers. This work will be conducted by Drs. Kong and Tan and their research team. A cataloged database of international scientific information logged onto the IMGA’s website that is easily accessible for its microgreen growers, members, stakeholders will be completed.
Second, the creation of the IMGA interactive website populated with a user-friendly database for growers. The operational internet website platform for the IMGA will populated with registered growers, suppliers and consumers and record progress of microgreen farmers from the beginning of this project. The website will identify grower and supplier numbers at the IMGA completion of our study in 2020.
The IMGA team, see this project as a win-win for everyone, as the members of the microgreen farming community and especially potential farmers and consumers, will have certainty and confidence to invest and to try out this healthy food, adding a new food growing industry to the U.S., albeit as a specialty crop. Also, the consumers will have the confidence of a recognized organization with its own protocols of health safety standards and a center for learning about the health benefits of such a nutritious crop.