How the Top 100 Growers Adapt and Evolve to Market Pressures

What makes some companies succeed in the face of market pressures? To answer this question, our team at Greenhouse Grower turned directly to the Top 100 Growers.

One of the questions in this year’s Top 100 Growers survey was, “Over this past year, there have been a number of Top 100 operations that have shut down. How has your company been able to adjust to dynamic market conditions?”

Here are just a few of the replies we received.

• “It is incredibly important to collaborate closely with your customers and manage your inventory closely.”
• “Continue providing high-quality and remain a desirable supplier for our broker growers.”
• “We filled in some gaps that other growers opened because of retirements or converting into real estate development.”
• “It’s always a good reminder to be humble when we learn of another grower closing. We have been able to provide product to customers who were left without a supplier. We continue to increase our selling prices to reflect the higher costs.”
• “We stick to what we are good at and constantly reevaluate where we can improve.”
• “Careful management of spend (labor, admin costs, materials). Driving value through unique offerings that create a barrier to entry. Maintain high-quality to ensure elevated pricing.”
• “We are reevaluating everyday how our business operates and looking to pick up savings though operational changes. The market is stagnant in pricing, so you have to look within.”
• “Increasing our customer base. Maintaining a diverse customer base. Slow and steady growth and not leveraging ourselves financially.”
• “By controlling costs and spending. The hardest thing right now is that labor costs are up 40% since 2020.”
• “Maintain a solid customer base, and invest in automation for efficiencies.”
• “Our focus has been and remains on execution. If you don’t execute the day to day well, you can’t execute weekly/monthly or annually.”
• “1) Relentless focus on what consumers are buying; 2) Investments in analytics, ERP, and logistics systems; 3) H-2A for our seasonal labor needs; 4) Costing/retails on the right items (price elasticity).”
• “Maintenance of key accounts, lean operating.”
• “We had to work hard to make extreme changes when things changed mid-year 2022 into early 2023.”
• “Focus and deliver on internal and external customer satisfaction.”
• “We have a very diversified portfolio so exposure is limited when certain product markets change.”
• “Connect customers to the right plants, deliver with effortless logistics, listen to our customers, offer convenience in ordering products, and offer solutions specific to customer needs.”
• “I think many went out of business due to a lack of a succession plan. We are currently on our third generation just starting out, so we have not run into that problem yet.”
• “We are learning to use data to help us determine what crops need to be increased, decreased, or eliminated from our product mix.”
• “Good relationship with a community bank. Focusing on debt reduction. Retaining good employees.”
• “We are seeing increased demand for our products. To stay profitable and in business, we have continued to raise our prices.”
• “We’re increasing production space and licensing growers to produce under our name.”
• “We have remained focused on what has been working for our unique situations. There are many opportunities to expand and add new products, but we only do so if it makes sense within our system.”