Eight Major Trends Affecting Floriculture Today

Don’t look now, Oklahoma, but Arkansas is right on your heels! says Chris Beytes, editor of GrowerTalks magazine. Chris gave this sobering news at the fall 2002 OGGA meeting in Stillwater.  Oklahoma greenhouse growers rank 34^th in the U.S. in production, just ahead of Arkansas, just behind Louisiana.  Oklahoma growers reported sales of nearly $18 million for 2001, mainly bedding plants and perennials. Chris gave this information as an introduction to his main topic, “A Heads Up for Oklahoma Greenhouse Growers.”  During his talk, Chris focused on eight trends in the floriculture industry.
 

• Efficiency – don’t think of it as a greenhouse but a production facility.  Instead of building new greenhouses to meet increased demand, growers are revising their present layouts to squeeze more plants into them.  A new house isn’t built until the old houses can’t hold any more plants!
   

• Flexibility – with the advent of open-roof houses and time saving equipment, large operations can be every bit as flexible as small ones.  Good equipment and facilities will require less time and money to maintain.  Investment in high-end equipment pays off in the long run: big companies can produce large quantities at a lower cost while small growers can reduce labor costs.

• Labor – along with better equipment, staff your operations with better employees.  Hire smart and fire quick!  Don’t ask,” What if I train them and they leave?” but rather,” What if I don’t, and they stay!”

• New Varieties – unless it’s exciting, don’t be swayed by new.  Old standards like Majestic Giants pansies and Cocktail begonias are still top sellers.  Most consumers don’t care if it’s seed or vegetative, annual or perennial – how it looks in the garden center and performs in the landscape is all they care about.  Retailers should be testing new varieties themselves, not trusting anybody else’s opinion.
• Marketing – branding is important, not just pushing someone else’s brand but developing your own.  Proven Winners, Simply Beautiful and Flower Fields are programs complete with packaging, labeling and advertising, and they all have their place.  But YOU should develop your own name in your area – after all, haven’t your customers already chosen your brand simply by choosing to buy from you?
• Retailers – For independents, retail is detail!  Clean, well lit, well merchandised.  Superior staff as well as plants.  Plants grouped by color not name.  You’re not in the plant business, you’re in the home décor business!  The chain stores are still expanding, demanding more from growers and not paying for it.  YOU will manage THEIR inventory, and they’ll only pay you for the plants they sell!  Growers need to become indispensable to the chain stores’ customers, a partner with the chain’s buyer.  Can’t do it yourself?  Find someone who can, or you will lose.
• Water – start planning for water use restrictions because they’re coming!  Implement systems that conserve water: ebb and flood, drip tape, cap mats.  Some systems can be adapted to regular benches – Bartlett Bench & Wire in Maine showed one at the Ohio Short Course.
• The Economy – Floriculture doesn’t boom when the economy booms, so don’t expect to go bust when the economy does.  The one thing that will affect your bottom line more than any other this spring is the same thing it always has been – weather!

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