Sustainable Horticulture

Marketing is Part of Sustainability

Posted by sustainable_hort on December 23, 2009  |  3 Comments

Portland, Oregon…The recent Oregonian story (12/20/2009), front page of the business section, told the world what the industry already knew…this is the worst of times. The stark reality was clearly shown in the graph of nursery sales in Oregon that accompanied the text.  Sales have dropped from nearly one billion in 2007 to this year’s projection of less than 700 million. The future outlook is for more of the same with any real turn around probably several years off.

We believe the winners during this challenging paradigm shift will be those that continue to market. Cut production, then costs, and lastly employees, but keep reaching out to both current customers and searching for new ones. There will be fewer players, and marketing remains a key to being a survivor.

Sustainable Hort LLC is also a marketing firm.  We offer a wide range of marketing services, from advertising to blogs, from catalogs to video. And, over the next few months, I will be adding some basic marketing information to this site to help nurseries consider their options and make concise, efficient decisions. It will be free for your use. Just don’t give up on marketing!

Another option…take or send staff to this winter’s Horticultural Marketing class (HOR257) offered by Chemekta Community College, Salem, Oregon. This Monday night session, 6 – 9 pm, is at the horticultural classrooms (#62-101) on the Salem campus. This class offers a cost effective, “fast start” to marketing efficiently. We will cover every aspect of marketing, starting with defining marketing, through numerous strategies and technologies, to evaluating what works with different segments and products. We know how to grow plants, but sometimes not how to market and sell them.  For more information, contact the registration office at http://www.chemeketa.edu/started/register.html.; or start with the general college site at http://www.chemeketa.edu.

Can Nurseries be Sustainable?

Posted by sustainable_hort on December 23, 2009  |  No Comments

The following is an excerpt of an article published in this year’s Cenflo, Inc.’s Nursery BooK…
What do we mean when we say “sustainable?” It is becoming almost as vague as the definition of “green.” This obviously means both more efficient energy and water use, and production methods that move toward “organic.” Not necessarily “organic,” but the use of less toxic pesticides, fungicides and herbicides, finding alternatives to plastics, and replacing petroleum-based fertilizers.
The simplest answer seems to be one published in the ATTRA guide to Sustainable Small-Scale Nursery Production. It states the following:
“Sustainable nursery practices aim to reduce levels of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, use integrated pest management systems to deal with insects, diseases and weeds and focus on building the soil to promote plant health.”
Granted, much of the energy nurseries are expending moving toward sustainability is about energy. This is a key consideration, since energy use in our industry, especially in greenhouses, has room for significant improvement [both in how it is generated and how is used]. In fact, much has already been written and discussed on this topic.
Water is another sustainable issue. But, nurseries have had to deal with it for more than a decade and with recycling technologies, many strides have been made to make it one of the bright stops, one of the success stories for the industry.
But, the other production technologies…fertilizing, pest and disease control, how we actually grow our plants…has received much less consideration. But, it is equally important, and to the consumer, ultimately more important. In fact, consumers are actually demanding products that are produced sustainability. Demand for organic vegetable and herb starts has exploded, with annuals and perennials seeing a similar increase. If someone had said there would be consumer demand for trees and shrubs, even I would have expressed serious doubt even just a few years ago.