In our annual Sustainability Issue of Digger, we explore how growers, retailers and landscapers can provide what consumers need for the healthy and sustainable landscapes they desire. Readers will also meet Joe Dula of Moana Nursery, and learn what it takes for nurseries to find the workforce talent they need.

In this issue:

• Let’s keep them growing: An organic fertilizer retailer caters to the public’s desire to control what they are eating.
• A hearty appetite for edibles: Growers find they can’t grow enough edible plants, and retailers can’t keep them in stock.
• Lessons from an ice storm: Damage from an ice storm highlights the important role the industry plays in tree selection and maintenance.
• Meet the Leader: Joe Dula. Hired from a Farwest Show connection right out of high school, Joe has been at the helm of production for Moana for decades.
• Hired help: Growers explain what it takes for nurseries to find the workforce talent they need.

Columns:

• Smart sustainability: President’s Message by Kyle Fessler
• Sustainability is our calling card: Directors Desk by Jeff Stone

Growing Knowledge an ongoing series provided by Oregon State University in collaboration with the USDA and in partnership with OAN.

• Native plants, bees, and microbes: The Oregon State University Garden Ecology Lab studies the health of garden ecosystems.

Please send your comments on the issue to editor Curt Kipp at [email protected].