Digger magazine

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Your efficient nursery business

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Nursery profitability is always a challenge. We talked to more than a dozen growers and industry colleagues who have become more efficient, and increased their bottom line, by improving their management, workflows, inputs and workspaces. Whether it’s a daffodil or a giant sequoia, a plant is a relatively simple closed system. Its ultimate growth is driven by basic environmental factors such as light, water, soil and accessible nutrients. The nurseries that produce these plants, however, are much more complicated.

Managing for efficiency

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Efficiency begins at the top. It starts with company leadership setting an expectation and empowering employees to contribute their ideas and expertise. It’s about encouraging dynamic, back-and-forth conversations in the workplace. Companies such as wholesale propagator JLPN Inc. in Salem, Oregon; wholesale grower Skagit Horticulture in Mount Vernon, Washington; Eshraghi Nurseries in Hillsboro, Oregon; wholesale […]

Creating an efficient workflow

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Although setting the tone for innovation is important, the production process is where the action takes place. Companies like Alpha Nurseries of Salem, Oregon; Robinson Nursery of Amity, Oregon; Woodburn Nursery & Azaleas of Woodburn, Oregon and others have realized great savings from revising their production processes to make them more efficient. At Alpha, manager […]

Using your inputs efficiently

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Although labor is the largest expense for many nurseries, it isn’t the only expense. Inputs such as water, fertilizer, growing media and even artificial light also impose significant costs for the grower. Entire books could be written on saving water and electricity in a nursery. The Oregon Association of Nurseries and the Oregon Environmental Council […]

Arranging the workspace

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In the nursery world, there’s a fine line between having too much space and not enough. Ben Verhoeven, president and general manager of Peoria Gardens, has found the secret to walking that line. “Lots of sleepless nights and coffee,” he said. “Deep breaths. Colorful language.” In all seriousness, though, utilizing a nursery’s space in the […]

An illuminating trend

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LEDs are helping nurseries gain all kinds of new efficiencies A mid-January morning in Hillsboro, Oregon: It’s gray, it’s drizzly and, most depressingly, it’s dark. Dark enough that 10:30 in the morning feels like dusk, which at this time of year comes far too early for most; dark enough that the region would be lucky to […]

H-2A for nurseries

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The guest worker program offers a labor option, but has its challenges Oregon nurseries are facing pressing labor shortages. Several have turned to mechanization, but the industry still needs human hands. In recent years, those hands have not been adequately available. Many nurseries are considering the H-2A temporary agricultural worker visa program as a potential […]

Maximizing your natural resources

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Soil and water conservation districts are here to help landowners, not regulate them What is an SWCD — and what can it do for you? Let’s start with the acronym. SWCD stands for “Soil and Water Conservation District.” The goal of conservation is to use resources efficiently, not prohibit their use. SWCDs help you make […]

Delivering the goods

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Transporting nearly a billion-dollars’ worth of Oregon-grown plant material takes trucks and trains — and lots of them. Droves of railroad cars, dry and refrigerated (refer) vans are needed to move shipments of plants across the state and to faraway places across the continent. Growers ship their plants to market with the help of transportation […]

Preparing the load for shipment

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The majority of wholesale growers in the United States sell a variety of types of material in a variety of sizes and formats. In terms of shipping the material, that presents challenges, but each nursery is different. While all growers must pay attention to the cost and availability of freight, as well as the labor […]