This Month’s Cover Story: How Dickman Farms Built a Legacy of Leadership

Dickman Farms Team

Dickman Farms is led today by (left-right) Dave Dickman, Bob Dickman, and Jim Dickman. Photos: Dickman Farms

Any company that’s been around for 100 years-plus is likely to have seen a lot of change. The key to maintaining long-term success during periods of change, however, is the ability to let your strengths as a company guide you along the way.

Advertisement

A great example of this is Dickman Farms, the 2021 Greenhouse GrowerMedal of Excellence Operation of the Year. From its strong family legacy to its focus today on innovation, leadership, and meeting consumer needs, the team at Auburn, NY-based Dickman Farms is always looking to make things better, not just internally but for the entire horticulture industry. Leading the way today are General Manager Bob Dickman, Director of Sales and Marketing (and Bob’s uncle) Dave Dickman, and Bob’s father Jim, who takes care of construction projects and supply ordering. In addition, Dave’s parents Dick and Dorothy still come in to work every day, and Dave’s wife Peggy is Office Manager and Director of Human Resources.

Club Ticket

Before Dickman Farms became a production greenhouse, it was a nightclub that offered dancing under the stars.

From Dancing to Digging

Dickman Farms was first formed in 1903 as a small commercial farm, and the first greenhouse was built in 1929, not for plant production, but as an indoor miniature golf course. When Prohibition ended, the golf course was torn out and replaced with a nightclub that operated as Club Dickman Dining and Dancing Under the Stars.

Top Articles
A Supplier Perspective on How the Growing Media Market Is Evolving

In 1961, Bob’s great-grandfather Herman and Dave’s great uncle Carl met two professors from nearby Cornell University who had figured out how to grow hothouse tomatoes in a soilless mix using drip irrigation. The Dickmans wound up closing the nightclub, pouring a concrete floor, and planting tomatoes and a few beds of annuals.

“I can remember picking tomatoes and having to straddle flats of marigolds that were in the rows between the tomatoes,” says Dave Dickman. “That’s where we got our first start growing ornamentals.”

In the mid-1980s, Dickman Farms transitioned out of outdoor farming and built more greenhouses for production of ornamentals. This growth has continued through today, and the company now operates about 15 acres of greenhouses (the company ranked #96 on Greenhouse Grower’s 2021 Top 100 Growers list).

The significance of being a five-generation family business is not lost on the family.

“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of my grandfather and great uncle, and their accomplishments and way of doing business,” says Dave Dickman. It is a daily reminder that someday there will be future generations looking back at our time at the helm.”

The main thing Dave Dickman says he has learned from the family is to have the courage to regularly assess and change the business plan.

“Each generation has had to make some tough decisions that were in the best interest of the company,” he says. “I’d like to think the second generation would be proud of how we have carried on their legacy.”

Partnership with Ball Is Invaluable

One of Dickman Farms’ strengths is its position as both a young plant and a finished plant grower. In 1997, Dickman Farms was approached by Ball Seed to become a rooting station for Ball, which meant Ball would ship them unrooted cuttings and Dickman Farms would put them in soil, put roots on them, and ship them to Ball customers.

“We thought it would be a good business fit for us, so we became their sixth rooting station,” Bob Dickman says. “That business has since grown by leaps and bounds through the years.”

Today, Dickman Farms sells its liner material exclusively through Ball Seed.

“As the Ball Companies grew, we were able to grow the liner side of our business, and it’s been a great partnership for us,” Bob says. “Relationships are a big part of how you succeed in this business, and we were very thankful to the Ball Companies for their support.”

Dickman Farms Garden Center

While direct retail isn’t a huge part of Dickman Farms’ business, it does give the company insights into consumer trends, and these in-sights can often drive production decisions.

On the finished plant side, Dickman’s retail-ready products are sold to around 85 independent garden centers (including its own), as well as to Wegmans Food Markets up and down the East Coast.

“While retail is not necessarily a huge part of our business, it is an important part of the business from the standpoint of helping us keep our finger on the pulse of what consumers are looking for, which helps us make decisions about what we’re going to grow,” Dave Dickman says.

Since the Ball Seed business accounts for roughly 40% of Dickman Farms’ production, most of the decisions on which crops to grow are driven by the needs of Ball’s customers. However, Bob Dickman says the company is lucky to have a retail garden center with a lot of talented employees who can tell him in real time what’s selling and what’s not.

“This drives what we’re growing in the finished product side of the business, even if it presents production challenges,” Bob Dickman says. “Consumer trends are moving towards larger, grab-and-grow-type products, and we’ve had to change our product mix over the last few years to meet that demand.”

Smart Innovation

Like just about everyone else in the industry, Dickman Farms is faced with the challenge of maximizing labor efficiency, which often involves making smart decisions on where to invest in new technology. For example, the company was one of the first growers in the nation to invest in Visser’s AutoStix automated cutting strip planter.

“Technology like this doesn’t really save you labor dollars, but it does replace people that don’t exist anymore,” says Dave Dickman. “We couldn’t be sticking the kind of numbers we’re sticking this year if we didn’t have those machines, because we wouldn’t be able to have enough people in the building to do it.”

AutoStix at Dickman

Dickman Farms was one of the first growers in the nation to invest in Visser’s AutoStix cuttings sticking technology.

The main factor that drives decisions on automation is how Dickman Farms can get more volume out of its peak spring season with the same amount of people.

“Whether it’s adding square feet to accommodate more growth or adding technology that helps us move product around our facilities more efficiently, any decision we make needs to be an informed one,” says Bob Dickman. “There’s a lot of technology out there that we’d love to have, but it might not make sense for us right now.”

Building Better People

Along with investing in technology, Dickman Farms is also smart when it comes to investing in its people, which includes both current and future employees. The company partners with the State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill on an internship program that is a graduation requirement for all greenhouse management and horticulture students.

“Each year we bring in one to two paid interns and put them through every department, so they can learn what it means to be a part of our organization,” says Bob Dickman. “It’s been really helpful, and we’ve hired a few young growers out of that pool.”

In looking at how to build talented employees, Bob Dickman reflects back a few years to when he was at his first board meeting with AmericanHort.

“We were all wringing our hands over the fact that there aren’t many talented plant people out there, and [Spring Meadow Nursery’s] Dale Deppe said we just have to build them ourselves. We can’t wait for some hot shot to drop off his or her resume at our front door,” Bob Dickman says. “That really resonated with me, and that’s how we are pursuing our young management team that can hopefully move into executive leadership in the future.”

In many cases, students may come to Dickman Farms without a background in horticulture, but with an interest in growing plants.

“We have a really solid middle management team at the farm that is open to bringing new people in and showing them the ropes,” Bob Dickman says. “Our goal is to bring them through every department, so that they can learn about the entire company before they, and we, can decide their best fit.”

The Value of Leadership

If there’s one word that defines the Dickman Farms legacy, it could very well be leadership. In fact, Dickman Farms may just be the definitive model for the greenhouse industry. Much of the management team is actively involved in organizations like AmericanHort, and the Dickman family has participated in panel discussions on how to properly implement new automation technology, how it persevered through the COVID-19 pandemic, and more.

“I think back to some of my mentors in the industry from when I first started going to the OFA Short Course and listening to other growers share their best practices,” Bob Dickman says. “We were often able to come back and incorporate that knowledge into our company, which has helped us grow. For me, it’s about giving back to the industry. Like the analogy of all boats rising in high tides, we as an industry have to continue to be relevant and move forward together.”

Dave Dickman echoes Bob’s thoughts.

“There were times when I was a young guy in the industry that growers didn’t talk to one another because they were afraid to share information that might make someone else more successful than they were,” he says. “That really has changed over the years, and thanks to organizations like AmericanHort and The Garden Center Group, we’ve become a lot more cooperative, which makes us all more successful.”

Medal of Excellence 2021Westrock Congratulates Dickman Farms, the 2021 Operation of the Year

WestRock is deeply dedicated to supporting the grower community. Over 100 years of serving horticulture, we’ve built a long tradition of producing premium packaging and offering superior service to our customers locally, regionally, and globally. From investing in innovation and development, supply chain solutions, and sustainability, to continued expansion of our database of horticultural knowledge and consumer insights, we work hard to be a true partner to our customers by providing the best in tags, labels, point-of-purchase, packaging, and merchandising solutions. We also believe that being a leader in scale and capability comes with responsibility. Today, we are proud to further give back to the community by partnering with Greenhouse Grower to honor and recognize innovation and achievement in the grower industry.

4