Communication is key to treating truckers well during driver shortage Jackie Weisenberger of Oregon Pride Nurseries Inc. rarely hears that a driver has backed out of picking up a load from her McMinnville nursery. “Earlier this spring, we had that happen, but that was happening everywhere,” she said. “As things died down, as we got […]
Keep on trucking
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The booming nursery industry has put big demands on the shipping sector About a year ago, Gary “Bert” Bertelson was lamenting a lost summer. Before last year, Bertelson, head of nursery over-the-road sales for Wilsonville shipping broker Integrity Logistics, would take a month off every summer during the seasonal slowdown of the nursery shipping business. […]
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 […]
Plants on the move: Making room for safety
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On nursery loading docks, COVID-19 changed everything Uncertainty and panic about the COVID-19 pathogen quickly took hold of shipping companies and nursery loading docks across the United States earlier this year. “It was the third week of March — that Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,” said Matt Frederick, logistic coordinator and operations manager of K&M Distribution Inc. […]
Plants on the move: An oasis for the road
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Nurseries provide hospitality for drivers cut off from usual resources The open road has been lonely for truckers in 2020. That’s according to Matt Frederick, operations manager for of K&M Distribution Inc. (Rogue River, Oregon), which serves the nursery industry. When moving a nursery stock shipment in a refrigerated truck, a driver headed to the […]
Ready to roll
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An efficient shipping process depends on working as a team There are countless ways to prepare an order for shipment. What works or one nursery may not be the best process for all operations. “Every shipping process is different because every farm has a different layout,” Elizabeth Peters of The Peters Company said. She and […]
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 […]
February 2019
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As some nurseries begin building relationships with gardening groups, columnist Mike Darcy shares what many homeowners have planned for their yards this season. Growers also consider how recent tariffs are impacting Oregon’s nursery industry, or how to use grapes in their production line. In this issue: Garden clubs: Cultivating buzz: Growers benefit by building relationships with […]
Taxing times for trade
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How Trump’s tariffs and trade policies are impacting Oregon’s nursery industry Jeff Stone has been in the nursery industry in Oregon for nearly 15 years. And in that time, the executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries has seen his share of industry ups and downs, particularly in the area of trade. Most recently, […]
Going big on transportation
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As Oregon’s largest agricultural sector, the nursery and greenhouse industry depends on an integrated transportation system so product can get to market. Nearly 75 percent of the nursery stock we grow ends up leaving our borders, with more than half ticketed for markets east of the Mississippi River. As a trade association, we have supported […]