Greenhouse Grower’s GROW Initiative: A Year In Review
Since 2011, innovative thinkers from across the industry have met each year to generate solutions to the issues we all face and come up with ways to re-energize the green industry as part of the GROW program, a cross-segment initiative geared toward putting the green industry back on a path of long term, sustainable growth. This year, Greenhouse Grower shared hundreds of innovative ideas, actionable advice, and insights from industry insiders centered around the program’s five pillars: Drive Consumer Success, Demand Quality, Sharpen Business Management, Cultivate New Customers, and Invest In the Industry. The slideshow above offers a recap of the highlights from 2016.
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Invest in the Industry: Support Extension Education
“Progressive companies that provide grower education, in my opinion, are muffled by a majority of trade show vendors who measure the success of a trade show by the single metric of dedicated trade show hours without competing for educational programming. Yes, it’s expensive for vendors to participate in a trade show, and they deserve to see their customers via dedicated hours. But I feel strongly that the responsibility to educate growers, their customers, is a shared responsibility.” – Peter Konjoian, Konjoian’s Floriculture Education Services
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Invest in the Industry: Support Industry Associations
“Each member of the management team at Jeffery’s Greenhouses is participating in the activities of our industry associations in different roles. I participate in a committee that is dedicated to fund and give direction to research activities related to our industry. My colleagues are members of other committees and work for the board of directors for those organizations. This involvement is something of a tradition, as the senior owners of Jeffery’s Greenhouses had been involved in such activities with national and international organizations for many decades.” – Albert Grimm, Jeffery’s Greenhouse, Greenhouse Grower’s 2016 Grower Of The Year
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Invest in the Industry: Provide Fair Compensation
“Today’s young growers are more than willing to put in long hours when it makes a difference, but they also expect compensation for their efforts. If your grower is salaried and works 60-hour weeks in the spring, the same number of 20- to 30-hour weeks should be acceptable in the winter slow season. When the situation is 40+ hour weeks all year, your grower will quickly do the math and figure out that his or her hourly rate is comparable to a shift manager at a fast food chain.” – John R. Daley, Wholesale Grower
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Sharpen Business Management: Partner With Other Industries
American Takii found a way to promote its number-one selling crop, Sunrich sunflowers, through a partnership with the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. The company donated enough ‘Sunrich Orange’ sunflower seeds to produce 125,000 plants for the nearly 2-meter high maze for the grand opening of the museum’s new entrance hall. It also gave away free sunflowers to people attending the event.
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Sharpen Business Management: Build Brand Loyalty
“Millennials will seek out brands that act as their friends and build a relationship with them via email, social media, and the web. If a company can grasp what is known as the ‘brand friend zone,’ then these customers will become a part of their brand’s loyalty program and continue to shop with them above the competition. These shoppers want to be inspired, challenged, and emotionally supported. Make them laugh or cry — basically make them feel something — and you’ll win them over.” – Kristine Lonergan, Garden State Growers
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Sharpen Business Management: Connect With Consumers
Each year, Luxflora offers the opportunity for up to 25 of its members to go on an international trip to observe trends in color, design, marketing, sales, and consumer buying habits and interests. Geared toward decision-makers and thought-leaders in the North American market, the trip promotes fellowship among its members, who work together to develop ideas for how plants and flowers can be successfully brought to market and promoted to consumers. Who better to drive an initiative to connect with current consumers, the majority of whom are women, than women who breed, grow, market, and sell flowers for a living?
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Sharpen Business Management: Teach Cost Accounting
“Growers big and small need to know how to calculate a true profit to keep their businesses growing and successful. One way to help them sharpen their business practices would be to provide more education on cost accounting practices. If everyone understands how to do the calculations, everyone knows what it takes to turn a profit.” – Lloyd Traven, Peace Tree Farm
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Demand Quality: Start With Your Own Business
Whether you grow plants or are working with customers, Inc.com offers five steps that will help you constantly improve the way you do business: Make a commitment to quality; track mistakes to define what quality is; invest in training; organize quality circles (groups of employees who access processes and recommend improvements); have the right attitude
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Demand Quality: Tell Your Story
“Politicians are human, and they respond to attention and involvement. You have to cultivate a relationship with them, and it takes time and effort. They are interested in learning about your business. Tours of your business, preferably with opportunities for photographs with beautiful plants or flowers, provide an ideal way to educate them (and/or their staffers). Try to paint a picture of what you do, how your business is important to the community, and why knowing you is important to them. I have found that facts, presented in a reasonable way and with a willingness to negotiate, will get you much further than just staking out a position and trying to defend it.” – Lin Schmale, retired from a government relations job at The Society of American Florists
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Cultivate New Customers: Build Trust
Keeping your customers and your community informed about what you are doing builds a sense of trust. “We let our retailers and our competition walk through our facility,” said Art Van Wingerden of Metrolina Greenhouses during Greenhouse Grower’s Top 100 Growers Breakfast. “We want to make the industry better for everyone. This transparency should also extend to your legislators. Get to know your local lawmakers. Show them what you’re doing; it makes it easier to go back to them later if you have any issues you need them to deal with.”
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Cultivate New Customers: Connect Consumers To Plants
“Amateur gardeners are just like cuttings; both need the right conditions to help them take root. Something as simple as the plant names that roll off our tongues can overwhelm those who don’t yet have a good foundation with horticulture. That’s where stories can help. I know many quarrel over trademarks and branding, but what we need to fight for are plant stories. Knowing how a plant came to the market, where it originated, and the breeder or finder’s story helps amateur (and experienced) gardeners feel more connected to their plants. Stories are what connect and unite us as a culture.” – Jared Barnes, Stephen F. Austin University
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Cultivate New Customers: Engage Them!
“The essence of a foodscape comes from the supplemental produce that engages people in a unique capacity: a ripe tomato hanging within a ‘Limelight’ hydrangea, peppers woven within pink muhly grass, amber waves of grain sweeping as a purposeful groundcover. These unexpected combinations enhance the experience of the passerby while raising awareness of how food grows. Food crops empower people on many levels. From plant recognition to raising awareness of health through consumption, foodscapes offer an opportunity to expand the role horticulture plays in society.” – Brie Arthur, Green Industry Communicator and Foodscape Designer
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Drive Consumer Success: Educate
While searching for influential gardeners, Proven Winners came across a young couple in Ontario, OR, named Laura and Aaron LeBoutillier, who were spending their free time making how-to garden videos. The LeBoutilliers had earned a half million followers on their Garden Answer Facebook page and more than 32 million views on their videos in two years. To keep the momentum going, Proven Winners offered its financial support, so they can continue to film, full time. Garden Answer controls the content, and ultimately, Proven Winners is paying to allow them to promote gardening, with the excitement and enthusiasm they’ve had all along.
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Drive Consumer Success: Reach Out to Millennials
Costa Farms found a way to reach out to millennial customers and fulfill its mission to help consumers become successful plant growers. The company introduced a new series of Idea Books to help the current generation of gardeners bring plants into their lives. One e-book release, Grow Gorgeous Container Gardens, targets consumers who are gardening in small spaces. It includes dozens of designs for beautiful container gardens, a “Know Before You Grow” tip section, and a “So Easy Succulents” section.
View all
Invest in the Industry: Support Extension Education
Invest in the Industry: Support Industry Associations
Invest in the Industry: Provide Fair Compensation
Sharpen Business Management: Partner With Other Industries
Sharpen Business Management: Build Brand Loyalty
Sharpen Business Management: Connect With Consumers
Sharpen Business Management: Teach Cost Accounting
Demand Quality: Start With Your Own Business
Demand Quality: Tell Your Story
Cultivate New Customers: Build Trust
Cultivate New Customers: Connect Consumers To Plants
Cultivate New Customers: Engage Them!
Drive Consumer Success: Educate
Drive Consumer Success: Reach Out to Millennials
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Brian Sparks is senior editor of Greenhouse Grower and editor of Greenhouse Grower Technology. See all author stories here.