Charlie Hall on What He’s Learned From Working With Growers
November 10, 2022 
Dr. Charlie Hall of Texas A&M University, who will be speaking at this year’s GROW Executive Summit on the Economic Climate and Forecast for 2023, accepted Greenhouse Grower’s Industry Achievement Award during the Medal of Excellence event at Cultivate’22. Virtually every grower in the horticulture industry knows Dr. Hall, whether it’s from his industry presentations, or his in-person or virtual educational focus. Now, here’s your chance to learn even more about him. In the last part of Greenhouse Grower’s six-part series on Dr. Hall’s legacy, we flip the switch and ask Charlie about the lessons and insights he’s learned by working with growers. Check out the previous five parts of the series here.
Greenhouse Grower: At the beginning of our conversation, we talked about how you get people excited about the economic side of the horticulture industry. So what’s the most exciting thing about this industry for you?
Charlie Hall: I think the thing I like best is the education. I’m a lifelong learner, and part of my brain lights up anytime I’m in the midst of reading other people’s viewpoints or synthesizing the latest economic data. I like putting together PowerPoints or finding information that nobody knows about. I love finding something that’s a less-known fact, and I also love dispelling some of the myths and misperceptions about our industry in the mass media. I think we need more of that real-time fact checking.
That’s the part of my job that I enjoy the most. The most rewarding part of my job comes when somebody tells me the information that I gave them changed their mindset or helped them turn a profit by implementing what I suggested. When I see the impact of what I’ve done, that comes full circle with what I’ve learned myself.
There was a point in my career early on when I would win awards for teaching, research, and service, and I thought it was important. But today, while I’m honored by this recognition, it’s not the driving force for what I do.
Greenhouse Grower: What is the most interesting thing that you’ve learned in talking to and working with growers in this industry?
Charlie Hall: There’s a whole group of growers in the industry who are every bit as good an economist as I am or even better. People like Bill Swanekamp [of Kube-Pak], who has forgotten more about the energy market than I’ve ever learned. I have great respect for those folks who have taken a deep dive and prepared themselves. What I’m able to do is round out their knowledge and provide other perspectives or data.
On the other end of the continuum, you do have some growers that are making decisions on what I think is faulty data. I try to speak to those situations. These growers may have a passion for plants, but their managerial acumen is lacking.
There’s one more big thing I’ve learned: I have two ears and one mouth. People are expecting an educator to always be prepared with something to say, and when I have a microphone, I’m not at a loss of things to say. But I’ve been most successful when I’m using my ears twice as much as my mouth.
Everybody has a paradigm in which they’re operating with their circle of influence. Some of the larger growers are into interacting with box store buyers. I don’t have a conversation with that box store buyer every day, but in talking to those growers, I can get a pretty good feel for the mindset of that box store buyer.
Having interactions with so many different growers has made me a better economist. It’s made me a better strategic thinker, and it’s enabled me to have a better perspective of the entire supply chain.
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