Digger magazine

Written to make you a nursery industry expert.

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F & B Farms and Nursery

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Founded: 1997 by Fred and Leigh Geschwill, Bill and Heidi Geschwill About: Wholesale greenhouse grower serving the Pacific Northwest. Products include annuals, organic herb/vegetable starts, potted indoor flowers/forced bulbs, small fruits/berries/grapes, pumpkins, fall décor and poinsettias. They also operate a small, local, seasonal garden center. Principals: Fred, Leigh, Bill and Heidi Geschwill Key Employees: Jon […]

Serendipity Nursery

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Founded: 1986 by David Sather About: Wholesale grower offering containerized and B&B broadleaf evergreens, conifers, grasses, and ground covers, which are shipped to wholesalers, garden centers and landscapers across the United States. Principal: David Sather Key Employees: David Sather, president; Mikaela Eaton, sales manager Employees: 5 year-round plus seasonal employees Contact: 8400 S. Sconce Road, […]

Why we connect

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Oregon is a diverse place with mountains and coastline, high deserts and fertile valleys. The nurseries that dot the Oregon map are just as diverse. Liner production, reforestation, cut flowers, Christmas trees, retail, and large specimen growers are just some of the categories represented, and our people are just as diverse as our products. Oregonians […]

The generational cycle of success

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Proper farm transition planning, including timing, protects the viability of the business going forward Agriculture, with its continuous cycle of planting and harvest rooted in valley soil, becomes a way of life. Leaving that rhythm behind to retire from the farm can be difficult. Farm leadership brings prominence and identity in an important profession, often […]

Elements of a transition

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A nursery transition plan must consider the optimal timing to change ownership, management, control — or ultimately, all three A nursery business is often nurtured, grown, and sold much like the plants raised in the nursery. One big difference is that the succession planning cycle happens over many years — not just one or two growing […]

Planting seeds for the future

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To achieve the desired outcomes, business transition planning should begin early and cover all the bases No matter how you’ve built and grown your nursery, there’s one milestone you’ll eventually approach: transitioning business ownership to someone else. Whether that successor is a family member, management group, or a third party, succession affects your business, family, […]

Making the handoff

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Family-owned nurseries follow a variety of models to transition to the next generation of ownership They say two things in life are certain — death and taxes — but death also implies a third certainty, and that’s retirement. If one doesn’t choose a retirement date, sooner or later it will be chosen for them. It’s better […]

In the beginning

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Startup nurseries draw on inspiration, entrepreneurial desire and the mentorship of others Every nursery has a different story, and every story has a beginning. Although one of every five small businesses is family run, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the percentage of nurseries that are family run is undoubtedly much higher. The ownership […]

Cumulative impacts have consequences

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The nursery and greenhouse industry is once again Oregon’s top agricultural commodity by value, according to a sales estimate for 2018. High-quality plants and green goods continue to be in demand here and abroad. With this momentum at our back, we now must turn the page to 2020. The new year promises a tumultuous presidential […]