More Than Just “Growers”
June 11, 2008 We’re in a pretty historic era of floriculture right now, if you think about it. Growers are consolidating, retailers are evolving and we all worry about how future generations will perceive gardening. As Ball Horticultural’s Anna Ball says, having profited from the great industry trends of plastics, plugs, mass marketers and vegetative propagation, we’re all trying to make heads or tails of the fifth great industry trend–sustainability.
There are forks in the road all over the place. The big question everyone wants answered is, “Where will our businesses be in 10 or 15 years?”
Our Top 100 Growers report this year is full of stories of how growers are facing issues head on. The four operations we profile–Paul Ecke Ranch, Wenke Greenhouses, Bergen’s Greenhouses and Floral Plant Growers–aren’t just growers anymore. They’re teachers, software programmers, marketing masters, efficiency experts and transportation gurus. As we wrote these articles, we learned a lot about the innovative techniques these growers have taken up. Their job titles aren’t just “growers” anymore.
Controlling more parts of your business and caring for plant products from cradle to grave could be the difference between struggling to keep your business alive and being progressive and proactive enough to keep business growing, even during tough times.
The Common And The Not So Common
The Top 100 Growers have a lot in common with all greenhouse growers–gas and fuel prices, immigration concerns and the economy–but they do have their own unique concerns because of their size. And their businesses are still growing. Since 1997, these growers have added more than a combined 80 million square feet of production space to their businesses.
With that much production comes great expectations from retailers. As Vinny Naab explains in his Retail Details column this month, the relationship between growers and retailers is changing. Growers are doing more than ever to ensure retailers are successful, including placing retail account managers in retail outlets and serving as a single-source supplier. These methods do have their advantages, but they also put immense pressure on growers to provide flawless product and service.
If your greenhouse measures 500,000 square feet, 5,000 square feet or 500 square feet, we hope you’ll find something in our Top 100 Growers special report that sparks an idea in your head or makes you think about your business differently. Watch out for those forks in the road.
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