Harnois Industries is a North American company manufacturing modern greenhouses since 1962 with more than 25,000 projects built across the world. The company prides itself on three words: quality, expertise and innovation.

More volume, increased light, a higher load support and a better resistance for enhanced performance. In a nutshell: That’s what the Luminosa gutter connected greenhouses provide. It’s a greenhouse designed for professional growers.

“Our experts and engineers have come together to design a greenhouse that boosts agronomic performance while maximizing the use of passive energy such as sun radiation and ventilation,” says Corenthin (Félix) Chassouant, Harnois’ agronomist and export sales director.

The gothic shape with a roof angle of 45 degrees allows more light to come in with a stronger steel structure. It has also a tremendous impact on the ventilation rate and condensation prevention providing an optimal climate to grow plants. The structure is also reliable with unique innovations at a competitive price. The Luminosa greenhouse is adaptable to areas with very high snow and wind loads. It can be built everywhere in the USA according to the International Building Code (IBC).

Photo courtesy of Harnois Industries

Félix recommends growers learn more about Harnois’ standard wider span versions (26’3”, 28’, 30’, 31’6” up to 36’ wide). In his opinion, they are the best “large volume” options with a buffer area that will regulate extreme temperature and humidity variations. A “large volume” option reduces the stress on crops helping the production manager to control the climate inside the greenhouses. With the current evolution of climate change including heavy snow, heat waves and strong winds, it will be imperative to have greenhouses that can perform in summer and winter regardless of outdoor conditions.

For example, Félix says the 30’ wide Luminosa version is a perfect solution for hydroponic leafy greens cultivation. There is enough surface for the hydroponic system, large spacing between posts and arches, and it is very ergonomic and bright.

Moreover, wider models are also optimized for growing vegetables according to an intensive crop organization, with rows spaced 1.6 or 1.8 meters. Félix says they are ideal for hanging crops such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. This size greenhouse optimizes the growing space and maximizes the operation’s profitability.

“Luminosa will be your perfect tool to help you grow,” Félix says. “Based on our years of experience in the industry and feedback from growers, we have observed that the current trend is towards wider and higher greenhouses. It is time to upgrade your structure!”

Art: newrossosh | Adobestock

Saying that business has been booming in the green industry for the past year and a half would be an understatement. It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns led to consumers spending a lot more money on plants in 2020 and 2021 than they had in recent years past. Though many sectors of the economy have struggled, horticulture businesses have done well. We’ve covered this boom in depth here at Greenhouse Management, as well as some of the reasons behind why the green industry has done so well.

And although it sometimes felt like we’d never make it this far, 2022 is indeed on the horizon. So, as 2021 comes to a close and we (hopefully) crawl our way out of this pandemic, now is the time to look ahead to 2022 and figure out what growers can expect for the upcoming year. To do that, we’ll ask the experts.

Where spending is headed

Purdue University’s Dr. Ariana Torres sees a lot of factors that are going to influence consumer spending on plants in 2022. One of the biggest factors is that instead of spending their money on plants, people will likely want to spend their money doing things they haven’t been able to do thanks to the pandemic. For example, after a year and a half of ordering takeout instead of dining in at their favorite restaurants, people will probably be going out to eat much more in 2022. Additionally, people will start traveling and vacationing as more and more places lift restrictions and people feel safer to fly on airplanes again. This return to dining out and traveling will leave people with less money to spend on keeping up with the gardening hobby that they’ve developed over the course of the pandemic.

Torres attributes these shifts in consumer habits to COVID fatigue. After abiding by the rules and foregoing the experiences they love since March 2020, people are tired of being cooped up at home. They want to leave their houses and eat with their friends and travel with their families. However, with the surging number of COVID cases thanks to the infamous Delta variant of COVID-19, it’s hard to say whether the dining and travel restrictions will come back. For now, though, it looks like a lot of people will spend their 2022 doing both.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that consumer spending on plants is going to completely disappear. Though there’s been fear that we are in the midst of a demand bubble bound to burst, University of Georgia’s Dr. Ben Campbell says that such a burst is unlikely, opting to describe his prediction as a “slow leak.” Yes, many people won’t be spending as much money on plants in 2022, but a lot of people still will, especially in the produce sector, and growers won’t see their 2020 and 2021 gains erased overnight. Demand and sales figures will decline in 2022, but it’ll take time, and the decline will likely be gradual. Even better, demand and spending will still be relatively high, as the decline is unlikely to take figures to below pre-pandemic levels from 2019. 2019 figures represent an equilibrium that growers should expect to approach as we enter and go further and further into 2022 and further and further away from the pandemic.

THE RETURN TO DINING OUT AND TRAVELING WILL LEAVE PEOPLE WITH LESS MONEY TO SPEND ON THE GARDENING HOBBY THEY’VE DEVELOPED OVER THE PANDEMIC.

Ignore the outlier

Now, how should growers prepare for that 2022 decline? When forecasting revenues for 2022, our experts encourage growers to treat 2020 and 2021 figures as outliers. After all, with the expected decrease in consumer spending on plants, it would be unreasonable to expect 2022 to be a repeat of 2020 and 2021. Torres and Campbell suggest using 2019 figures when forecasting your revenues.

On a slightly different note, Dr. Charlie Hall of Texas A&M University advises that it’s always best practice to take the average of the last three years for your forecast. Looking at 2019 figures will give growers a good idea of where things are likely to go after consumer plant spending approaches the pre-pandemic equilibrium that our experts are expecting.

According to Hall, the key thing growers should keep in mind when planning for the coming year is not to over produce. He says to take that three-year average and base your inventory levels off that. After all, you don’t want to get to the end of 2022 and realize that you’re holding onto way more inventory than you actually sold because you thought you’d sell everything like you did in 2020.

All three experts anticipate that growers will face increasing production costs in 2022, chiefly driven by increased wages. Like every other business today, growers are facing a labor shortage, and it won’t ease up on its own. To combat this labor shortage, growers will have to offer higher pay to attract workers. Obviously, wage increases can cut into profit margins, so our experts also say that growers will have to raise prices in an effort to offset some of that change.

How to handle pricing

Raising prices has been a hot topic among growers lately, and it’s going to be extremely relevant for 2022. Hall’s advice? Raise prices by 11-13%. Hall anticipates that consumers will be willing to pay those increases, but Campbell warns that you can only increase prices so much and still retain customers, so growers will likely still have to eat some of the added costs of higher labor. That being said, growers still have other options to cut costs, like working to become more efficient, maximizing labor productivity, ensuring they aren’t wasting water, and turning to automation.

Hall also says that businesses have to make sure they retain the skilled and experienced labor that they already have. If businesses can hold onto their current employees, then they’ll save money by not having to recruit, hire and train new employees. One strategy Hall suggests will help in that regard is to provide referral incentives to current employees. If your employee is monetarily rewarded for bringing in a friend to join the business, that employee will stick around and do your recruiting for you so they can get their bonus.

So, while growers should indeed be cautious going into 2022, they should not despair. Though 2022 may force them to take two steps back, they will continue to move forward. But to keep moving forward, Torres says that businesses need to go into 2022 with a plan. They need to get informed and make smart decisions based on solid business plans and economic analysis.

This article is an update to a previously published cover story, "Tactical Economics" from the January 2021 issue. Read the story at https://bit.ly/tactical-economics

Even with all the recent momentum around women and minorities in horticulture, we’re still admittedly a ways away from true equity among all this wonderful industry’s many stakeholders.

And yet, in order for more access to power for these groups, it helps to amplify some of the operations that have embraced true diversity in the boardroom.

You might remember The Growers Exchange (TGEX) from my colleague Kate Spirgen’s cover profile of the operation (Online Exclusive, June 2020). Based in Sandston, Virginia, the e-commerce-only greenhouse operation owned by Briscoe White made for a great profile of an operation that was leveraging a new sales channel to increase its relevancy among plant buyers, and the timing was perfect, as more and more wholesale greenhouses began exploring the e-commerce angle.

While that profile dug deeply into the how and why of White and co.’s online pivot, there’s another worthy angle that is worth exploring with the East Coast plant shipper.

“If you are looking for an article about young greenhouse managers, especially female greenhouse managers, TGEX team would be a shining example,” White wrote to me in an email back in August. “If you’re wondering who in the hell is going to run greenhouses in the next generation, we have some [idea] here.”

Well, White, challenge gladly accepted.

The now (wo)managers

For much of TGEX’s history, White has been tremendously involved in day-to-day operations at the $1 million dollar-plus in annual sales “plant factory,” as he called it back in our previous story on the operation.

Today, however, he has been able to take a step back from the hustle and bustle of the production grind. And that’s all due to, according to the owner and founder, the steady stewardship of the front office duo of Operations Manager Jessica Smith and Horticulture Manager Shannon Convery.

While the two couldn’t come from more disparate backgrounds — Smith has a background in operations and in early e-commerce ventures around the Richmond, Virginia area, and Convery got her start as a section grower at a “big commercial grower” — they’ve been able to combine forces and safely steer TGEX through what’s been a turbulent last 18 months.

“Overall, the past 18 months, we did really well, actually,” Smith shares. “Sales were up, everyone was at home, and we provided a service that allowed people to keep growing and gave them piece of mind.”

“From the greenhouse perspective, I think it was admittedly kind of insane, ya know,” Convery adds. “We did the best that we could. Going into it, we kind of knew things would be insane, and since we were already just doing e-commerce strictly, we knew this was a big opportunity for us to sell a lot of plants.”

There were a few hiccups along the way that the dynamic duo had to overcome. Things mostly related to the strain COVID-19 put on everything supply chain-related.

“We had some seed shortages, and plastic stuff was hard to get for a while there, so we had to make some changes on the fly and use cuttings, things like that,” Smith explains. “You do whatever it takes to get around some of those issues and keep supplying your customers.”

After a 2020 where the greenhouse blow past its profit projections by 25%, the duo saw an opportunity to reward those who helped them manage through such a turbulent time.

“We were able to raise wages significantly and make sure we’re paying what we feel is a true living wage to our people,” Smith says. “And we started doing monthly bonuses for the employees to just show our appreciation for them just showing up day-in and day-out, wearing masks during the hot and humid summer, that kind of stuff.”

More seats at the table

It’s time to address the elephant in the room. While we’re perhaps doing better than we’ve ever done on accepting nontraditional demographics into the boardrooms of horticultural businesses, the TGEX management duo feels there’s still a lot to be accomplished.

“I just had this conversation with my partner a couple months ago, and like we were saying, especially with the new cannabis boom [in hort], it’s all middle-aged white men,” Convery says. “Not only are women not getting these jobs, but it’s also non-white males that can’t get their foot in the door. If you go into any greenhouse in this country, I guarantee you’ll see a good number of women working in that greenhouse.”

Convery would like to see the industry someday get to the point where promotions and appointments are doled out purely based on individual merit and proficiency.

“We have to get to the point where we’re hiring people based on experience and how much growing knowledge they have, and whether that package comes in a man or a woman, a Hispanic woman or a Black man, it shouldn’t matter,” she argues. “I get in the greenhouse, and I start working with my people and talking with them and it’s like, ‘Man, why aren’t these people running the show and calling the shots?’”

An open mind and willingness to be different at the top of the organizational structure is what struck Smith about upper management’s hiring philosophy.

“[I] was hired literally just to do data entry and as I worked with them, I tried to learn [about horticulture],” she recalls. “I am not a green thumb, so this was all new to me when I started 10 years ago. Briscoe and Kenan [the owners] were those types of people that supported every crazy suggestion I came up with. I’d hope people in this industry have mentors that will listen. I had so many ideas and some of them were insane and they supported me, which allowed me to learn more. People need to just take a second and listen to their people.”

Some SOI takes

Our 2021 Greenhouse Management State of the Industry report (https://bit.ly/soi-2021) always contains some interesting nuggets of information to digest.

Nearly a quarter of those that filled out the survey (23% to be exact) plan on increasing production on tropicals and indoor foliage plants (AKA houseplants). Herbs also appear to be taking off with more greenhouse operations. Twenty-two percent of respondents will be increasing their activities in that segment, as well.

At TGEX, Smith and Convery said they are planning on more of “anything rare and unusual” for 2022.

“We’ve seen this kind of shift over to the weird and unique stuff, where we’re really kind of amped up currently on things like marshmallow root, St. John’s wort, unconventional stuff like that,” Convery explains. “For years, we were known for having wide of varieties of lavender, rosemary and thyme, but now the rare stuff is just really taking off.”

Being known for its herb production, TGEX also noticed a trend toward varieties that could be considered more “natural” or heirloom.

“It is exactly that — people want to go back to the old days of natural remedies — and they’re looking for things like echinacea and chamomile to help with all this anxiety in the world today,” she adds. “Our customers are very interested in medicinal herbs.”

Potted flowering plants (which includes dill, parsley, and other herbs) will also see a 20% bump in production for 2022 among the growers we surveyed.

“Dill and parsley were really hot back in 2020, but — get this — it wasn’t for culinary [uses],” Smith dishes. “Customers wanted them because they're host plants for swallowtail caterpillars!”

“We’re able to give them those rare and unusual finds that you can’t just pick up at the big-box stores,” Convery says.

Talkin’ profits

Another fun aspect of the SOI is to see how growers feel the next 12 months will go from a profit standpoint.

One-fifth of growers indicated that they expect overall profits to increase either by 5-9% or by 15-19%, both of which would be considered good increases year over year. Another question asked whether profits would increase, remain the same or decrease. Only 10% of respondents indicated that they foresaw a market downturn on the horizon.

“That is THE question that everyone is looking at, and we are batting that around right now too,” Smith shares. “One of the best things about being so entrenched in this e-commerce world is that we have so [much] data to base those decisions off of.”

Convery adds: “We feel 2022 is going to be another big year for us; there’s no red flags that I am seeing right now, anyways.”

“We might see a bit of a plateau [in 2022],” Smith cautions. “I only say that because we did 50% [more in sales] in 2020, and then we went 20% over that this year, so we have really done leaps and bounds beyond a normal year for the past two seasons. Right now, we are still projecting a 10-15% increase for 2022. In the past 10 years, we’ve never had a red year, we’ve always grown in some way, so it’s not something anyone here is worried about.”

Talkin’ prices

Four-fifths (80%) of our survey audience indicated they raised plant prices in 2021 (by anywhere from 1-19%) and many more growers are still grappling with how to offset spiraling production costs while keeping new gardeners around.

“Before COVID hit, we raised our prices at the end of the 2019 season, which, when everything hit the fan, allowed us to stay at those prices, so we did not have to raise [prices] to compensate for high demand,” Smith recalls. “As of right now, we do not want to be gouging our customers or raising prices just because everyone else is.”

On the grower side, Convery tasked her production staff with finding efficient workarounds to save money on the backend, before seriously considering across the board price increases during 2020 and 2021.

“[We started with] streamlining the shipping department, and we’re also using a new plant tag company, so that has decreased the amount of reships we have to do based on errors,” she explains. “So instead of raising prices, we found stuff to do in-house. Yes, we could raise prices, absolutely. And people would still buy from us. But let’s have a conscience. We want to be able to supply our customers and not have them say ‘Oh my gosh, I just spent $150 on plants at The Growers Exchange.’”

Be your own advocate

Asked their advice for young horticultural pros, Smith says to always be your 100% authentic self, and the rest will take care of itself.

“And don’t be afraid to speak your mind; that’s what I have learned, anyways,” she says. “Sometimes in this day and age, people will assume that if you’re a woman and you’re speaking up. In a male-dominated industry, sometimes your first instinct is ‘Oh I’ll just be quiet,’ but that doesn’t help anyone. I would tell any woman, just don’t be afraid [to speak up], and be you.”

“And if you want to learn more and move up in the industry,” Convery adds, “then approach the people you work for and let them know that you're interested in horticulture as a career and want to take on more responsibility. You are your own best advocate.”

After a second consecutive spring season featuring explosive consumer and commercial demand for all things green, this year’s State of the Industry report reveals a greenhouse industry poised to capitalize on all this momentum heading into 2022.

One oft-discussed initiative over the last year and half has been the need for growers to raise plant prices, which prior to this historic boom period had somewhat leveled off. Now, 81% of the growers we surveyed will be raising plant prices anywhere from single-digit increases all the way up to a nearly 20% bump.

Of course, when prices go up, it stands to reason that profits will closely follow. Nineteen percent of growers are expecting a 20% or more net profit increase in 2022, and a whopping 90% of the 134 growers who answered our queries expect net profit to either increase (57%) or remain the same (33%) as this past season. Only one-tenth of our survey group expect to see net profit decrease over the next 12 months.

Despite all that good news, challenges remain. Finding qualified labor to plant, tend and harvest your indoor crops remains a top concern of one-fifth (20.56%) of our survey group moving forward. Managing the supply chain — which the COVID-19 pandemic and its many rippling aftereffects completely turned on its head this past year — is a major concern for over 40% of the growers we polled.

And still, the industry remains confident and bullish heading into the new season. Nearly two-thirds of greenhouse owners and operators are either confident (37%) or very confident (24%) that the industry at-large will continue to grow in 2022. Just three years ago, only 40% of you felt the same, so that’s good news for all of us.

Read on for more insights from your greenhouse growing peers. — Matthew J. Grassi