Solutions Source: Shipping obstacles

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Whether it’s across town or across the country, plant material must arrive on time and in good shape. But at what cost? Between inflated fuel prices and shipping rate hikes, growers are being forced to budget more for delivering the plants from their greenhouses.

In 2006, the national price of diesel averaged a record $2.71 per gallon, a 30-cent increase above the 2005 average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). In 2007 the EIA predicts the average price of diesel will rise to $2.75 per gallon. Diesel’s all-time price record was $3.16 per gallon, set on Oct. 24, 2005, and gasoline’s record was $3.07 a gallon, set on Sept. 5, 2005, according to the EIA.

For motor carriers, fuel can account for up to 25 percent of total operating expenses, according to the American Trucking Associations (ATA). A one-penny increase in the price of diesel annualized over an entire year costs the trucking industry an additional $381 million a year, ATA said. That fuel surcharge from your carrier may now make a little more sense.

In 2007, Federal Express and United Parcel Service increased their ground shipment rates by 4.9 percent.

No matter if you hire a common carrier or have your own fleet, you’re going to pay more for shipping this year.

Brown carries green

Plantpeddler in Cresco, Iowa, partnered with UPS to ship its young plants three years ago. UPS delivers unrooted cuttings from offshore production sites to Plantpeddler, and it ships rooted young plants from the Cresco location.

“They’ve been an extremely good partner for us for moving product,” said Mike Gooder, president of Plantpeddler. “We’ve been working very tightly together. They even sent reps to the Ohio Short Course with us.”

UPS representatives and Gooder discussed the movement of unrooted cuttings and what was necessary to keep them alive.

“UPS offers first-thing-in-the-morning delivery, which saves a few hours of shipping time and helps keep those unrooted cuttings alive,” he said.

Plantpeddler typically brings in plant material from 15 countries for its offshore production, so a global partner was important, Gooder said.

“We were the No. 1 offshore importer for UPS in the state of Iowa this past winter,” he said.

What’s in the tank?

With the lure of tax incentives, some companies are turning to alternative fuels. Alternative fuels include biodiesel, electricity, ethanol, hydrogen, methanol, natural gas and propane. But there are pros and cons to alternative fuel-powered trucks.

The U.S. Department of Energy manages an Alternative Fuels Data Center on its Web site at www.eere.energy.gov/afdc. Users may compare alternative fuel properties, locate fuel stations and learn more about vehicle maintenance related to alternative fuel use.

Green View Co. in Dunlap, Ill., switched to biodiesel a year ago in six semi-tractor trailers, 35 tractors and skid loaders and 30 medium-duty landscape trucks. Green View has a growing operation, a retail garden center and a landscape firm. Biodiesel is a domestically produced diesel derived from 100-percent renewable resources such as soybeans and canola.

“We’ve been happy with the results,” said Tom Hoerr II, president of Green View.

Some of the pros include a 10-cent tax credit on every gallon of biodiesel, a higher lubricity than new, low-sulfur fuels and a slight increase in fuel mileage, Hoerr said.

But biodiesel is more susceptible to gelling in freezing temperatures, he said. And when they first made the switch, fuel filters often plugged due to the natural cleaning agent properties of biodiesel.

Biodiesel provisions

No engine modifications are necessary to run biodiesel, but some preparations are required, according to Propel Biofuels, a company that builds biodiesel fuel stations. Because biodiesel will degrade rubber and nylon, diesel-fueled vehicles made before 1990 need to be replaced with hoses and gaskets to a material such as Viton, which is formulated for heat resistance. Biodiesel acts as a natural cleaning agent and will break down sludge and sediment in the fuel tank. Gradually increase biodiesel ratios so the sludge will slowly be cleared away to avoid plugging up the fuel filter.

Biodiesel begins to crystallize between 32°F and 35°F. To compensate for lower temperatures, a switch must be made in the blend. Propel recommends a 50/50 blend between petrol-diesel and biodiesel when temperatures drop below 40°F.

Fuel with roots

Two Texas A&M University researchers think a tree in the fuel tank may provide some relief to higher fuel prices.

In Texas, nearly 3.5 million tons of woody biomass -- scrap left over from forest harvests -- could be had for essentially the cost of bundling and hauling, said Eric Taylor, Texas A&M Extension forestry specialist. Technology is available that could be used to convert the woody biomass into automotive fuel or “green-diesel,” Taylor said.

And woody biomass has several advantages over ethanol from row crops, Taylor said.

“First, it’s already available. Of the 3.5 million tons of wood residue burned or left to rot at harvest sites, about 65 percent could be easily harvested for biomass,” Taylor said.

Jim Ansley, Experiment Station rangeland researcher in Vernon, Texas, is determining the feasibility of developing a bio-energy industry in rural West Central Texas. The industry would be based on the harvest and use of rangeland woody plants, such as mesquite and red berry juniper, as an energy source.

“If gas prices continue to go up, I think we could very well see a first generation refinery built in Texas to handle mesquite within five years,” Ansley said.

One ton of mesquite wood will yield about 200 gallons of ethanol. An acre of the densely populated mesquite standing 10 to 12 feet tall will yield 8 to 10 tons of wood.

“One aspect of mesquite that makes it an attractive renewable fuel is once the aboveground growth has been harvested, it sprouts back pretty vigorously,” Ansley said. “We’re looking at how long it takes before it can be economically harvested again.”

The largest expense -- building a refinery -- is expected to be about $8 million with a profitability of $2 million a year after expenses, Ansley said.

For more: American Trucking Associations, (703) 838-1700; www.truckline.com. Plantpeddler, (800) 827-1654; www.plantpeddler.com. Green View Co., (309) 243-7761; www.greenview.com. Propel Biofuels, (800) 871-0773; www.propelbiofuels.com. Eric Taylor, Texas A&M, (903) 834-6191; eltaylor@tamu.edu. Jim Ansley, Texas A&M, (940) 552-9941; r-ansley@tamu.edu.

Group names trucker-friendly nurseries

Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association named the 2007 Trucker Friendly Nurseries and the Carrier of the Year.

MCT Transportation in Sanford, Fla., is the 2007 Carrier of the Year.

The 10 winning nurseries are: Boyd Nurseries, Butler’s Foliage, Country Joe’s Nursery, Heart of Florida Greenhouses, Kraft Gardens, Mercer Botanicals, Plants of Eden, Rose of Sharon Nursery, Silver Krome Gardens and Suncoast Nursery.

Each year FNGLA’s foliage division recognizes growers and trucking firms “of the highest standards.” The awards were created to expand communication between the two groups.

Drivers judge nurseries on road conditions, accessibility after hours, dock height, proper sleeving and paperwork accuracy. Carriers are evaluated on timeliness, flexibility and driver dependability.

For more: FNGLA, (800) 375-3642; www.fngla.com.

Your shipping route may face ghastly gridlock

Reason Foundation, a nonprofit group that researches public policy, said traffic delays will increase 65 percent and the number of congested lane-miles on urban roads will increase by 50 percent during the next 25 years.

By 2030, drivers in 11 metro areas -- Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Portland, San Francisco-Oakland, Seattle-Tacoma, and Washington, D.C. -- will be stuck in daily traffic jams that are as bad as or worse than today’s infamous bottlenecks in Los Angeles, according to the study. In those cities it will take at least 75 percent longer to make a trip during peak hours than off-peak periods.

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Other cities poised for congestion include Flint, Mich., Phoenix and Mesa, Ariz., and Lansing, Mich.

For more: Reason Foundation, (310) 391-2245; www.reason.org/ps346.pdf.

- Kelli Rodda 

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Cold chain improvements will increase profits

George Staby, president Perishables Research Organization

Flowers and plants are shipped through various marketing channels at temperatures that are often too high, resulting in increased shrinkage, disappointed customers and decreased profits for all segments of the floral industry. Despite the high perishability of these crops, the industry fails to ensure proper temperature control during transportation.

The floral industry needs to implement the following to improve the cold chain:

* Cut flowers and potted plants (except for tropical species) must be cooled rapidly to proper temperatures (normally 33°F-35°F) and maintained at appropriate temperatures (no higher than 41°F) throughout the cold chain.

* Time/temperature indicators that have been proven effective for floral crops or data loggers should be required in all shipments to document cold chain issues.

* Day-ahead flower and plant ordering by purchasers and/or day-ahead flower and plant harvesting by growers is required for many crops to ensure that adequate time is available to cool the products prior to transportation.

* Transportation and/or third-party companies should offer precooling services as profit centers to ensure that all boxed flowers and plants placed in trucks are at 32°F-41°F.

* Record growing media temperatures and make results available to grower, shipper, wholesale, retail and transportation companies.

* The industry must invest in equipment such as precoolers, adequate refrigerated storage, sealed and trailer height dock doors, refrigerated docks, refrigerated trucks and marine containers.

* Growers should ensure that flowers and plants are properly treated with appropriate anti-ethylene, anti-yellowing, flower foods or anti-transpirant products to improve product outturn.

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For more information on improving the cold chain for fresh cut and potted flowers, visit Staby’s Web site (www.chainoflifenetwork) for his White Paper II, which he co-wrote with Michael Reid, University of California-Davis.

George Staby is president of Perishables Research Organization, (209) 295-1577; www.chainoflifenetwork.org.

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