OAN’s first virtual show connected the industry in a new way in March Zen Landis, the Oregon Association of Nurseries’ events and education manager, knows what it’s like to prepare for and help run a big and important professional association event like OAN’s annual Farwest Show. You prepare for months, deal with logistics and coordination, […]
Virtual is the new reality – for now
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The nursery industry’s power trade shows go virtual in the age of COVID-19 Vanessa Finney can say something about the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS), one of the industry’s largest annual shows, that just about no one else can. She grew up with it. Literally. Finney’s father, Carville Akehurst, was the first executive vice president of […]
Trade shows in the time of COVID
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The Baltimore and Minnesota shows plan virtual offerings for January Since 1981, the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show has been held every year at the Baltimore Convention Center. One of the industry’s largest shows, it usually draws close to 12,000 attendees and nearly 1,000 exhibitors to about 300,000 square feet of convention center space. MANTS would […]
Plants on the move: Freight with uncertainty
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COVID-19 threw nursery shipping for a loop, but things settled and stayed strong Gary “Bert” Bertleson used to have it pretty good in the summer. The head of nursery over-the-road sales for Integrity Logistics, a freight shipping and trucking broker in Wilsonville, Bertleson would regularly take an entire month off in the summer. He was […]
Nurseries, COVID-19 and the economy
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Earlier this spring, all signs suggested that the nursery industry might be in for a rough ride. In early March, the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 had become a global pandemic. Soon thereafter, states began declaring emergencies, closing schools and limiting large gatherings. Then came the stay-at-home orders and the closure of non-essential businesses, […]
Up and running — online
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For retailers, an unfortunate pandemic accelerates the trend towards online ordering It’s May, the month of Mother’s Day and, typically, the peak season for garden centers and nurseries in Oregon and around the Northwest. It’s the month when Americans usually spend close to $1.9 billion on flowers to honor their moms and when pastime gardeners […]
Mastering the merge
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Nurseries share the benefits of integrating wholesale and retail in one operation It was 38 years ago and Grace Dinsdale had just launched Blooming Nursery, a wholesale nursery in Cornelius, Oregon; just west of Hillsboro. Her goal from the get-go had been to operate as a wholesale nursery that could supply the industry with a […]
Proper credit
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Nurseries need to play it safe when it comes to setting payment terms In 2006, about six years after he founded JLPN Inc., a nursery seeding operation in Salem, John Lewis had finally reached a point where he was ready to begin operating on cash. Up until then, the business had been run largely on […]
Keep on truckin’
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Nurseries work closely with shippers to keep their products rolling Here’s something to think about: The top agricultural commodity in Oregon is nursery and greenhouse products. In 2018, nursery and greenhouse sales in the Beaver State topped $996 million — a quarter-of-a-million dollars higher than the No. 2 commodity, cattle — making Oregon one of the […]
O, Christmas trees
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The industry’s been on a rough ride, but some silver linings point to a bright future The years leading up to the Great Recession were merry ones for Christmas tree farmers in the United States. Consumer demand and spending were strong, prices were steady, and the supply was bountiful. The future looked bright as a […]