Spring Crops Recap: “We Are in a Good Place for the Future”
August 12, 2023 Greenhouse growers from across the U.S., including operations large and small, participated in Greenhouse Grower’s 2023 Spring Crops survey. This year, nearly 60% of respondents were from the Northeast or Midwest, and the tone of the responses was largely optimistic, despite lingering concerns.
Among this year’s respondents, almost half were grower-retailers, 42% were wholesale growers, and 9% were young plant growers.
As in many past years, labor (mostly availability, but also cost) was the biggest challenge, and it contributed to price increases for some. One respondent noted that “With high inflationary rates, our employees need to receive significant raises (7% to 10%) in order to stay ahead of the curve. To mitigate, our product cost went up 10%.” Another grower said “Like most other greenhouses, we are finding it harder to get younger people on board. We are fortunate to have many people retired from other jobs here.”
The good news is that, for the most part, weather did not have a major effect on sales or traffic. Around two-thirds of respondents said the weather was either extremely or moderately cooperative, and only 9% said the weather was extremely uncooperative.
When it comes to lessons learned going into 2024, the most common theme was trusting your plan and sticking with it. As one grower noted, “We spend six months making our plan come together and then we sometimes want to tear it all up in six minutes. The key is to have great analytics, and then use that historical data to make great decisions.”
Here are a few comments from this year’s respondents that stood out.
- “We are very fortunate to be in an area that has a strong demand for our products. We are somewhat concerned with reports we have received from sales reps about consolidation in the industry. We have been told by one supplier that the product we have purchased from them the last 20 years may not be available because a large firm has purchased the seed company they used, so the seeds are no longer available to them. Are we starting to see monopolies developing in our industry?”
- “Projection on weather being the hottest in 50 years raises some concern over customer buying trends and lack of sales.”
- “This year proved out the theory that we have new consumers due to COVID-19, and we have now proven we have kept 80% or more of them as a new hobby. We can still lose them slowly if we don’t innovate and meet their changing needs, but we were blessed with a solid and productive year of growth due to following our plan, getting some cooperation from Mother Nature, and believing the consumer was still there.”
Fun With More Numbers
How did your Spring 2023 sales compare to your Spring 2022 sales?
- Sales increased more than 10%: 22%
- Sales increased between 5% and 10%: 30%
- Sales increased less than 5%: 13%
- Sales were about the same: 24%
- Sales decreased less than 5%: 4%
- Sales decreased between 5% and 10%: 6%
- Sales decreased more than 10%: 2%
How did your Spring 2023 sales compare to your expectations for the season?
- Sales exceeded expectations by more than 10%: 17%
- Sales exceeded expectations between 5% and 10%: 30%
- Sales exceeded expectations by less than 5%: 6%
- Sales met my expectations: 39%
- Sales fell short of expectations by less than 5%: 2%
- Sales fell short of expectations between 5% and 10%: 6%
- Sales fell short of expectations by more than 10%: 2%
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