Presenting Greenhouse Grower’s 2021 Head Grower of the Year Finalists
June 22, 2021 The finalists for this year’s Greenhouse Grower Head Grower of the Year award, part of Greenhouse Grower’s Medal of Excellence program, share several traits, most notably a drive to produce the most high-quality plants possible.
Keep reading to learn more about this year’s finalists. The winner will be announced at Cultivate’21 during the Greenhouse GrowerSM Medal of Excellence reception.
Corwin Graves
Corwin Graves, Green Circle Growers
Corwin Graves may work for one of the largest ornamental operations in the country, but by no means is he resting on the laurels of Green Circle Growers’ legacy.
“I believe strongly in the idea of continuous improvement, asking ourselves how we’re performing at the crop level, and making reasonable, thoughtful changes to address shortcomings,” Graves says. “If we’re meeting our targets, then we should congratulate the team and celebrate those wins, but if not, we should be critical of ourselves and be prepared with actions to improve.”
Graves also says it’s important to recognize that each person on the team is unique in terms of their management and communication style, so a one-size-fits-all approach to managing the team doesn’t always work.
When it comes to innovation, Green Circle has developed strong relationships with suppliers and growers, both domestically and globally. These relationships are critical as Green Circle looks to remain at the forefront of crop production technology and variety development.
“On the technology side of things, we are beginning to learn more about controlled-environment agriculture and the advantages that a controlled space can provide, including capacity efficiency, consistency, and improved yields,” Graves says.
Noah Schwartz
Noah Schwartz, Neal Mast Greenhouses
Communication and education are the keys to building a strong growing team, according to Neal Mast Greenhouses’ Noah Schwartz.
“Walking through the program and showing our team what our customers expect as it relates to specifications is key,” Schwartz says. “Education is a big part of preparation each year. We hold a Culture Clinic each year in January and bring in some of the top technical reps from our suppliers, breeders, and plant health care companies to present to our growing staff.”
This focus on education extends across all departments. For example, Schwartz’s growing team oversees an Innovation Department that looks at new genetics and how the operation can build timing and input programs for potential new crops.
“We have also started using a new ERP system that allows for real-time crop analysis reports to be created, looking at variances for hitting target dates and shrink by location,” Schwartz says. “This allows us to capture data in season.”
Steve Garvey
Steve Garvey, Dallas Johnson Greenhouses
One of the things that makes Steve Garvey, Head Grower at Dallas Johnson Greenhouses in Council Bluffs, IA, stand out is that while he’s certainly all in when it comes to adopting new technology in the greenhouse, he also knows the importance of learning and mastering that technology to make it work for your operation. It’s a mindset he strives to instill in his team, as well.
“We use all of the latest technology in the industry, but it is important for a new grower to learn how to grow ‘old school’ before they learn how the new technology helps makes us successful,” Garvey says.
Garvey also recognizes that success in this industry starts and ends with quality, which is why he’s always looking at the effects of plant genetics and crop timing.
The best part of his job, Garvey says, is on those busy spring days when he’s able to look at the quality of the plants that are being delivered to stores.
“It fills me with a sense of pride to have the growers know that we are striving to be the best grower out there, and that their hard work is appreciated,” Garvey says. “This is ultimately this why I do this job, to have a happy customer in the end.”
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