The state of the world economy and what it means to greenhouse growers

By Leigh Coulter, GGS Structures, Inc:

Last week I attended a meeting where the keynote speaker was Peter G. Hall, Vice-President and Chief Economist for The Economic Development Corporation.

For an economist Peter is an entrepreneur at heart; ever an eternal optimist, seeing far more opportunities than problems regardless of the economy, but of course he calls himself a realist. He does not ignore the economic downturns, or the cautions of a pessimistic environment. There are concerns that the economy is not yet quite ready to ramp up, that businesses, and consumers are still waiting for “you first” to make a move. He likens the world’s recent business environment to that of professional car racers: We live an exciting and risk taking role focused on winning, and in 2008 we suffered a huge crash that wiped out the 2009 season. We came back cautiously in 2010 with lackluster results, and in 2011 and 2012 we started the year well, only to putter out in the end.

So what does this year’s season have in store? The opportunities are present and the signs are there to signal that early adopters of change, those first out of the starting gate, can reap rewards of a world economy on the verge of growth.

EDC measures leading indicators of the world’s top racecars: USA accounting for about 20% of world GDP is a car to watch. Housing starts are up, and despite government austerity measures GDP is growing. American debt to income ratio has dropped about 30%, and businesses have been stocking cash as they held off on investments during the previous 3-4 years.

Read the rest of Leigh's blog here.